H
And eventually I was that, a colleague of hers. And she very quickly became a good friend. When my wife and I came to Rochester in the summer of 1988 in order to secure housing, bringing along Matt, our 3 year-old son, Susan moved out of her house so that we could have a comfortable place from which to work. She just went off, staying with a friend, and let us have her place for several days. As plain as that.
Very soon into the first semester that fall, she and I and my wife had become friends, enough so that, when my wife (also a Susan) went into labor in November, it was Susan Hawkins we called to babysit while we went off to the hospital. Prior to our leaving, my wife, as was her habit, was fiercely walking through her contractions, circling the faculty subdivision, returning home, circling the house, setting off again. I do recall that at one point Susan (Hawkins) stopped her briefly, took her aside and asked
"just what do these contractions feel like?" I will never forget the look on my wife's face then, as I jumped between them and steered my wife into quieter waters. Safer for all of us.
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