10 and Lawrence Street, N.E. Washington D.C. 20017
From: GTETONS@aol.com
Subject: October 3, 1998 -- reunion continued
Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 20:20:31 EDT
Hey Everyone!!
Before I bore you with the details of my past 30 years, let me first respond
to some of what has already been dished up for public consumption.
PAT HILWIG -- I trust you weathered "Georges". I want you to know that you
have always held a special place in my heart as the person who liberated me
from my reliance on DC Transit. I remember our daily commute together with
great fondness. What kind of car was that anyway? Datsun??
CHRIS WYCLIFF -- I've often wondered what the heck you were up to. Holy
mackerel, pal! Could you cram anymore into 30 years? I think the expression
goes, "Life is what happens while we're waiting for life to happen."
Capricious, arbitrary, random -- it's an amazing journey (as your tale surely
shows), never quite how we imagined it would be. Oh, by the way, you were
great as the "jungle doctor."
BOBBY -- How could raising five children, teaching kids for 27 years and
managing a successful marriage (you knew your wedding date) for 22 years be
construed as "ho-hum"? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
ELSIE -- Imagine the pressure felt by college-bound kids today to know what
they want to do before the enormous sum of money required to educate them is
misdirected. By comparison, we had it pretty simple. Just going to college
seemed to be enough to placate parents and it took no more than want for a
"mustang" to get us there. Who said it was hard to grow up in the 60's?
TERRY -- Thanks for providing me with the starting point for my biography,
"emotionally unprepared for college". Best of luck to you in your new career.
WELL, here goes --
I left St. A's for Providence College in Rhode Island. Why Providence
College? Because John Thompson went there. Such was the sophistication of my
decision-making. Within a month I knew that so good had been my education at
St. A's that I could put it on "cruise" study-wise and immerse my self
completely in my new found hobbies -- partying and ponies.
To make a long story short, I took full advantage of beginner's luck and put
on a "winning streak" at the race track that is probably still legendary at
P.C. Rise at noon to make the first race at one, grab a bite and a few beers
on my way to the dog track at night. I made a lot of friends, lost a lot of
brain cells and eventually went into such a tailspin that I had to leave PC
simply to excise myself from this debilitating lifestyle.
The demons now exorcised I felt "emotionally ready" for college and I
transferred to Catholic University to complete my college education. It was
here that I finally hit the wall. I could no longer "cruise". My classmates
were light-years ahead of me and I had to work my ass off to catch-up. I did
and I now look upon my decision to transfer to CU as one of my better ones.
Marie Castellucci and I continued our relationship during our college years.
Indeed, being closer to her was another factor in transferring to CU. And so,
two months after graduation from college, we were married. She began her
teaching career and I worked as an editor for the U.S. Patent Office. Fun
times, crazy times, but they now seem another lifetime ago.
Bored by and seeing no future in my job, I toyed with becoming a lawyer (just
what the world needed), a bookbinder (I made Mr. Ryan an offer) and any number
of things that seemed like maybe I could do and perhaps be successful at.
Finally, while assisting Marie's aunt at a charitable lasagne dinner, Marie's
cousin, Anthony Pappano (St. A's - 1965) and I half jokingly discussed the
idea of a restaurant. The joking led to more serious discussion and the
eventual realization -- why not? We're young, haven't accumulated enough to
worry about losing, and even if we aren't successful, we can always go back to
what we were doing before. "Blessed are the naive, for they shall be
protected from the truth." I had no idea what I was getting myself into and
didn't much care.
The restaurant was to be built around the cooking and recipes of my partner's
mother, Rosalie Pappano. But in the two years it took us to set up this new
enterprise, she was diagnosed and treated for cancer. Two weeks before we
were to open the restaurant, she died. One week before we opened, we weren't
sure how to turn our kitchen equipment on. Now the panic set in. This was
October 1978 and the panic continued for just about a decade.
One of the many causalities of the maniacal ten years of ridiculous working
hours and singular dedication to making the restaurant work -- was my marriage
to Marie. Our separation and eventual divorce was largely because of our
"growing apart" and I know that the time and emotional toll exacted by the
business contributed to this. We parted as friends and I still think of her
as that.
I've heard that some people are perfectly happy alone. This, however was not
my experience, perhaps a by-product of being raised in a large family, I found
the aloneness intolerable. Then, in a circumstance brought about by the most
remarkable sequence of chance events, I met the person who has made my life
complete. Her name is Pam and she was raised and educated in Massachusetts
and we met on a blind date. We were married in May 1988 and life since then
has been wonderful. So wonderful in fact, that living with Pam has served to
temper my innate cynicism and sardonic view of life. The Lord doth work in
mysterious ways. We now live in Alexandria, Virginia in an older and quirky
neighborhood we love. The Lord has chosen not to bless us with children, even
though we've done every fertility/infertility procedure available. Now we
spend our idle time and money enriching each other's lives. She has
introduced me to the Rocky Mountain West and just this past July, we spent a
week whitewater rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Life is
good, very good.
The restaurant is doing well and even though I am rarely there during hours of
operation (I prepare the food from 3 AM to Noon), I'd love anyone and everyone
to come and see me and the restaurant. It's called Zio's and it's in
Gaithersburg, Maryland and despite the fact that I prepare 90% of the food, it
is good and well worth a visit. Give me a call -- 301-840-2267 (Zio's) or
703-548-7423 (home) and I'll make sure I'm there when you come by.
My God, but I do blather on! Sorry if I have tried your patience.
Can't wait to see who's next -- John Beard