Typing Skills

My Dad was ahead of his day. As school superintendent of the Lago School in Aruba, he insisted that every student learn to type. Mind you, this was back in the day when typewriters looked sort of like the one below. This was also the time when young men launched into careers that had little to do with typing skills whereas women, be the teachers, clerical staff, or housewives benefited from knowing how to type without looking at the keys.

My brother learned to type in high school in Aruba and when he went away to college he was a hot ticket amongst his peers who asked him to type up their papers and reports for class. He earned money by the page. He's still a pretty good typist, probably far better than other men his age.

Hands down, typing was the best skill I mastered in school from the perspective of continuous utilization.  Knowing how to type fast and with accuracy paid off. Countless hours saved. Time is money. More time makes way for more rest.

These days we think nothing of younger folks pecking away at their computer keyboards. I'm not sure how people learn to type these days; probably either  entirely self taught or with a typing tutor on line. The learning starts earlier and earlier; I'd predict many begin as grade school students if not before. In Aruba, back in the late 1960's we learned the 'old school' way where the keys were covered over with heavy duty tape.  We learned to touch type as opposed to the "search and peck" style I see some contemporaries of mine utilize.

Although typing wasn't a necessary skill in Medicine until the early 1990's when email hit the scene, everyone in the field depends on the skill nowadays. The electronic medical record, a prime example of how medical documentation changed in the past ten years makes my point. We type constantly; clinic notes, communications, emails, and other updates fill the gaps between seeing patients. Many of us bring work home in the evening; although this may involve dictation, typing is more common.

Typewriters are a thing of the past except in the lives of  'eccentrics' or the technically challenged. Who among us is not a slave to the keyboard?

I'm grateful that my Dad, who at one time practiced his skills at the typewriter, encouraged all of his students to get into that typing class. Now.

The Quest for Straight Hair

On a lighter note, the three young women, the graduating ninth graders mentioned in the previous post, shared another thing in common other than similar career paths.

We all had thick, curly hair; really curly hair. This might not be obvious from the yearbook photos. In the late 1960's and well into the 1970's straight hair was a highly prized feature. If we didn't have it, we made out like we did. There were ways to straighten thick, curly locks and go for the sleek, polished look rather than the fly away wildness imprinted in our genes.

Eventually we all grew into our natural look and embraced the curls. I look at the transformation as part of growing up, as part of accepting who we are.

 

Three Doctors From a Class of Thirteen

In 1969, the graduating class of Lago High School in Aruba numbered thirteen students. Mere freshmen in high school, we were considered "the seniors" because we would all be leaving Aruba to complete the remainder of our education stateside. The American school for children of employes of the Lago Oil and Transport Company in Aruba operated a  K-12 program for decades. In the late 1960's, the company responded to economic pressures by truncating the school program after grade 9. The company paid for employees to send their youngsters to prep school in the U.S. mainland; a purely financial move with little regard for how the decision might affect young students or their parents.

I won't comment here about the effect leaving home at the age of fifteen to move thousands of miles away from home when cell phones were nonexistent and overseas telephone calls and cablegrams were byzantine methods of communications. Snail mail in the strictest sense kept us in touch. Those were rugged days. More on that later.

Back to the graduating class of thirteen students; 6 young men and 7 young women. We studied Algebra I, World History, Spanish 2, Biology, and English together in grade 9.  We hung out after school and on weekends at the beach and the Esso Club. After "graduation", we split up to attend stateside schools. I landed out at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin because of the proximity to my sister, 12 years my senior who lived in Houston, 150 miles down the road. Close but not too close.

The interesting statistic about that class of thirteen students is that three became physicians and all three were women.  Here we are in our yearbook photos from 1969.

The daughter of the physician director of the Lago Hospital in Aruba, she attended medical school and trained as a Psychiatrist. She lives in Santa Fe.

Originally from Canada, she and her family left Aruba shortly after graduation.  She went to medical school in Canada and became a Family Practice physician. After many years in general practice, she pursued an interest in skin care and esthetic medicine. She operates medical spas in Canada  and markets a line of skin care products.











 


And here I am. At the time, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. An acute illness and hospital stay several years later would light the fire on my dream.











The three of  us remain in practice.

** photos taken from the Lago School yearbook, 1969 

Neither Fish nor Fowl

Summer 1975

"Based on your cumulative average (we didn't say GPA in those days) and your MCAT scores, you're neither fish nor fowl when it comes to getting into medical school."

-----from a letter received from my college adviser, an Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University July 1975

Her words were anything but comforting. She stuck to a non-committal stance. I wasn't out and I wasn't in but somewhere in between.

And her advice?

"Send out your applications yesterday, get back to school and have a strong fall semester."

"We Are Powerful Beyond Measure"

This blog launches as a sister blog to Ahead of the Wave on this very special, yet sober day in my life; the one year anniversary of my Mother's death. I've been procrastinating for weeks about my first post for Back in the Day, a blog about my life in Medicine. There is no more time to put off what bubbles forth from my heart. There is no excuse to wait for perfection, to stall the process hoping for a smooth ride. My Mom's death from old age and dementia reminds me that she always wanted to write about her life but put off the process endlessly. She left stories untold and that is a tragedy.

The time for me is now. 

Mom was an an enormous inspiration and source of strength in my life. She steadfastly believed in me and always asserted that I could be whoever I wanted to be. She loved deeply and unconditionally. I know she would have enjoyed reading this blog and from somewhere, I feel her inspiration and support in this new project.

I'll begin my blog with a favorite quote from Marianne Williamson. The words come from her book, A Return to Love: Reflections of the Principles of a Course in Miracles. She captures beautifully the simultaneous exhilarating and terrifying truth of our abilities and talents. She admonishes us to shine our light so that others may be encouraged to shine as well.

She says;

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us."

How often do we fear our inadequacy when our power is just beneath the surface? How often do we turn away from our strengths to hide in the shadows?

Marianne follows with an explanation.

"We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." 

And so it goes.

And so, today I begin my new blog, Back in the Day, a series of posts about my life in Medicine. I'd like to think that this quote of Ms. Williamson is a steady theme, fueling my creativity. All my life I've struggled to find my talents and to transform my uncertainty into light, a light that shines, inspires, and comforts others.

No more delays. Here we go.