Fatal attraction
Over a period of about two years, Mimi’ s step-Dad, Frank was battling with malignant melanoma. Unfortunately, he lost his battle and we attended his funeral. Frank had been a mentor and good friend for many years and it was very sad for me as well as Mimi to lose him. Our family routinely visits both Roslyn and Frank’ s memorial in Perth.
After ten years managing the cardiology practice, I had an opportunity to set up another ultrasound business in Seattle, Washington. We sold our house in Perth, said goodbye to our Australian family and moved to Seattle. Fortunately, I was able to get Luke and Ryan into a very prestigious private Catholic school in an upscale suburb called Mercer Island. Luke jumped a year ahead to grade 6 and he was surprised to see that there were about 6 teachers each giving him homework using real textbooks. Additionally, he had to study for exams every two weeks and his grades were displayed in the school. The school in Western Australia was not up to this standard and Luke now had to learn how to study and take tests. Moreover, he was thrust into some difficult social situations with wealthy children. Ryan was in Kindergarden and having lots of fun. Luke’ s baseball skills were very advanced, even for America, and he was able to use this to his advantage socially. He had an Australian accent and many of the kids made fun of him for this. He was now going to several dances that stressed his social skills. For one of these dances, I was nominated as a chaperone together with many other parents. The dance was very organized and large number of attendees had to show their school identification to get in and there was no exception. All exits were patrolled by parents. There were hundreds of children and a live band belted out loud music. I walked around the dance floor and had to break up a small get together where some bigger kids were throwing a couple of midgets around.
Victoria Island, Canada
Ferry Boat ride, Seattle
At the end of the dance, I was positioned at the only exit and it was my job to ensure that kids got into the cars of their parents who were picking them up that had to arrive in single file for that purpose. Most of the children were courteous, however a handful just walked off and when I confronted them, they gave me the finger or said something nasty as they ran off.
One of the girls in Luke’ s school had latched onto Luke and was like his shadow. Initially, he liked the attention of this popular girl which gave him some credibility amongst his peers. But after awhile she became a nuisance and he asked her to back off. She then got him in a headlock and wrestled around with him. Mimi and I had to see his teacher, which was a bit embarrassing for all of us. It was like fatal attraction!
Don Parker
While living in Seattle, we explored everywhere and we used to take the Ferries to isolated places. Our house was only 30 minutes to a nice ski area and I and my good buddy Don Parker who was living in Seattle helped to teach Luke how to ski. It was rough for Luke as we took him up the mountain and said watch this and you are on your own! He still grumbles about this today. We got Ryan proper ski lessons. We then drove up to Whistler Mountain in Canada one winter and met our friends from Perth who had a condo on the slope. The skiing was amazing and the village during Christmas was lit up so beautifully. We watched skiers at night that gave a dazzling display as they used torches when they skied right into the village. The entire experience, including our drive up and back provided us all with the most
BARRY STEVEN EPSTEIN- PhotoAutobiography DRAFT 79 of 156