Cancer support, Diner, Friends, and Mom

October 2, Thursday

Say goodbye to brother Rik and head down KS Rte 77 - right down thru the very heart of the heart of America. Flint Hills, windmills, rolling hills, amazing beauty in what seems to just be vast flatness.


We pulled into Wichita - where I was born and where I ultimately graduated college.


Our first stop was a visit with the folx at "Personal Image" - a wonderful family who runs a business helping women reconstruct their personal appearance after being affected by cancer: wigs, prosthetics, make-up advice - and being friends who know what it is all about. Our visit was particularly prompted by their "Heather Helper" fund. Our younger daughter was killed in a car accident 2 years ago and my Mom established a memorial fund there - to help those who can't afford the services. The "Personal Image" folx minister to women - more than "run a business" and they have a track record of not only being effective at what they do - but also in helping with the parts of cancer recovery that doctors don't handle: being friends and showing women that they still *can* even *look* good - and feel good about themselves again. It was really wonderful to meet them and confirm that they're even nicer than we'd thought. We got to visit for a bit - and we're very pleased that Heather is represented - continuing to help cancer victims - long after she has left us physically. There's a link to "Personal Image" on Heather's memorial page http://heatherlamaster.info/ - and we are pleased to continue to see contributions to the "Heather's Help" fund in her name. A really-nice visit.


Next up: the next "Diner, Drive-in, and Dive": "Brint's Diner" there in Wichita. We found it behind the Bread company - as promised - and tried the Country-Fried Steak - as recommended on a few reviews. It was just great. Our waitress was very friendly and showed us a menu from the early days of "Brint's" ("Country-Fried Steak for 90 cents") - and the Country-Fried Steak (and the Biscuits and Gravy we also tried) were spectacular: smooth, rich, creamy and VERY tasty! GREAT stuff. It also still has the look and feel of a classic diner: you feel that "The Fonz" should come thru the door at any moment - my raised pinky notwithstanding. Lots of fun, and highly recommended - and, yes, I'm getting WAY too excited about food again, but this was worthy of being excited.


Then I visited a friend I'd met on the internet (like a LOT of my friends). We'd never met before, but we sat and talked and caught up with each other while Kathy shopped for awhile and found me a new "Wichita State University" T-shirt, bless her. Good visit with my friend Dave. It is getting common with me to "know" someone for years before I ever meet, but it is so great to meet someone and really feel comfortable as if it wasn't the first time we ever actually met.


I was close to my undergraduate college, Wichita State University, so I decided to drive on over and look around. Wellll... it's been 31 years since I graduated - and it was - humbling - to see so many new buildings and traffic patterns - that it took me awhile to even find the Engineering building and the computing center. OK. Actually, the computing center where I worked during my college years - is now an Anthropology Museum. Annnd I dropped in to the Engineering office - and confirmed that nobody knew who I was anymore. The professor who had been there the longest - arrived 2 years after my departure. Kind of sad, but also a reminder that everything "moves on". Sooo... I figured that I could at least go visit my old dorm room: Room 406 of Brennan I. But they now lock the dorms *completely* - all the time - for security reasons, so I couldn't even get into the building. Sigh. So I took a picture of my dorm rooms' window - from the outside - and reminded myself that I don't belong there anymore. My WSU years were wonderful years, but so are these. So I picked Kathy up at the mall and left WSU behind.


I had been big on eating at a "Red Robin" hamburger place - somewhere on our trip - and there happened to be one right there in NorthEast Wichita - so we did dinner there. It was OK - but not really the "Yummmmm" of their ads - but we checked off that our list of things to do.


ANnnd finally we headed west - to Kingman, KS - to join my Mom and stepdad - to watch the Vice-presidential debates, talk a bit, and say goodnite. Amazing how much can be packed into one day. A good day.