Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

When Dad visited for his annual medical conference two weeks ago, as I mentioned yesterday, we spent some time with him at the evening events held as part of the convention. Friday night was the big formal event they hold every year.

Before, the event was always held at the Adam's Mark Hotel, which has now been closed and will soon be demolished to make way for a Target.

The event this year was held at the Radisson Hotel near the Valley Forge Convention Center. Before hand there were cocktails in the rooms and hallways surrounding the room where the event would take place. We enjoyed some wine and hors d'oevres and chatted with people.

Dad was very proud of himself. He had a tuxedo to wear. He'd bought it for my sister's wedding and decided to get double use out of it. The Gryphon, of course, wore the suit he bought last year at this time for the same event. It's getting loose on him, however, since he's lost about 20 pounds on the Weight Watchers program. And I wore a little red dress I got at the consignment store.

The dinner was held in a nice room that seemed smaller than the room at the Adam's Mark, probably because the dimensions were different. They did the typical boring speeches and awards, and we cracked jokes quietly during it.

We also made copious commentary during the traditional performance of the Polish American String Band, who are a part of that illustrious Philadelphia tradition of the Mummers. I explained to any who would listen that just because I was a quarter Polish didn't mean I had to like polka music.

This time, because of the way the tables were assigned, we didn't sit with Dad's old med school buddy, but we got into some interesting conversations with the people at our table. One was an engineer who was there with her boyfriend, a doctor. He hadn't even worn a suit to the event but was wearing a white cardigan sweater. From his gray hair, I figured that he simply had reached a point where such things didn't matter to him. She was seated next to The Gryphon and talked to him a lot.

My dad and I talked to a guy from Texas who was there to give presentations at the commercial booths at the convention. He was a very friendly guy who'd done a lot in his life, including flying small planes. So he was entertaining, at least.

They were nice enough to serve me a vegetarian entree to replace the red meat that everyone else had, and the meal was once more huge. I hit the dance floor with the daughter of my dad's med school buddy, like I do every year, trying to work off the calories.

We didn't leave until about 11 p.m. It didn't seem late as we were heading home. But we didn't consider the fact that there were things I needed to do back at the apartment to get ready for the move the next day. We were up until almost 2 a.m. working before we finally got to bed.

More from Dad's visit:

June 1, 2005 - Stage and Screen

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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