SPOTLIGHT ON CYNTHIA

I have a friend who lives across that big pond that we know as the Atlantic Ocean, who was kind enough to take the time to answer a couple of questions for me concerning her life.

Cynthia is a compassionate, caring woman who has stood there and allowed me to vent to her many times, and I think the world of her.

I asked, "Cynthia, what was your favorite activity as a child?  What do you think of first?"

Cynthia said, "My favourite activity as a child? My mum had some very particular ideas about the "right" things to do, which included piano, tennis and girl scouts. All I wanted to do was ride horses and learn figure skating. Believe it or not, I think she viewed skating as the more expensive (or possibly just less socially advantageous). SO the riding won. Was never terribly good at it, not even twice weekly from age 6 until around 11 or 12."

I asked, "When you think back over your life, what was your most memorable moment to date?"


After thinking for awhile, she told me this story:  "Impossible to say. Perhaps the most momentous was when I was given a stack pass in the Library of Congress. I had waited patiently for 2+ days for a rare original source, for a college paper on the instigation of the Glorious Revolution, and the pony-tailed desk clerk (the sort you see these days working in "real" bookshops while they toil as budidng writers) finally gave up and handed me the pass, then took me down 11 floors (city blocks) to the section AE-AH (the Library of Congress system, natch). I never found the book I was looking for, but I did spend an enchanted afternoon browsing."  A story about browsing in the Library of Congress, suits the Cynthia I know.

Stay tuned to read her description of her favorite Christmas gift on December 25!