regularly held there. We came back to Perth and the weather fluctuated with brief periods of heavy rain followed by bright sunlight and the temperature ranged from 60- 70 degrees F. We thought that if this is the coldest and worst temperature we could easily handle it.
We flew back to John F Kennedy airport after a very long trip. In the car driving home from the airport, we said to each other lets get out of here and move to Australia to start a family. One year later, after quitting both of our jobs, we took 22 suitcases as extra baggage and moved to Perth. We landed in Perth on January 28, 1986, the day the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. Our landing in Perth was so hard that the oxygen masks came out after landing. Mimi’ s brother-in-law was helpful in getting initial employment with a company to fulfill our immigration requirements.
Soon after, we bought a house in a suburb very near to the beach we had originally seen. We were living in an upscale town called City Beach that was perhaps a 10-15 minute walk to the beach. It was a bit strange getting used to driving on the left side of the road and I kept getting in the car on the wrong side. Our suburb was written up in National Geographic magazine as having more pools per square kilometer than anywhere in the world. Yes, we did have a pool and it was very big and we enjoyed swimming regularly.
Within 10 months of arriving in Perth, we had our first child, Luke Meng Epstein. During the birth, Mimi had developed severe high blood pressure which was life threatening at the time. I was a nervous reck after the doctor informed me of her condition as it was a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Mimi had an epidural and she was quite relaxed during labor. The midwives were very calming and supportive. Then all of a sudden the obstetrician showed up and started yelling and cursing at everyone and before we knew it Luke was born, they were asking me to cut the umbilical cord and they took Mimi away from me. The doctor was a total asshole and ruined the entire experience.
Mimi pregnant with Luke
Introducing Luke Epstein, February 16, 1987.
Clockwise: Frank, Roslyn, Barry, Mimi, Luke, Claire
Before Luke was born, Mimi’ s parents moved from Chicago to Perth as we were very close to them. So this was the first time that Roslyn, Mimi’ s sister and Mimi were living in the same place in quite awhile. They were all very close and we regularly got together. Frank and I were best buddies and I had so much respect for him as he was a captain of industry and here he was hanging out with me so much.
BARRY STEVEN EPSTEIN- PhotoAutobiography DRAFT 66 of 156