Great Man

On Wednesday I was reading Costco's monthly magazine. I like to read the book reviews and add any interesting titles to my "want to read" list....which is growing rather long these days. This month's featured book is Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese. I was instantly interested in this book. The author was born in Ethiopia to Indian parents eventually leaving Ethiopia and coming the the US. He became a Doctor and worked with some of the first AIDS patients. Here is a bit of what the book is about: "A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel, an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother's death in childbirth and their father's disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.Yet it will be love, not politics -- their passion for the same woman -- that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, nearly destroying him, Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him."

Now, for the really interesting part of my story. Cam has clinical on Tues. and Wed. each week. He gets done at 8:30 pm and then heads home. On the same day I was reading about this great book Cam was on his way to clinical and was listening to an interview with Abraham Verghese on the radio. Amazing! Abraham Verghese would be speaking about his book that evening. Cam called me at about 6:00 to say that he had heard about this great book, and was on his way to hear the author speak. Wow! We couldn't believe we had both read/heard about this book on the same day. Cam arranged to leave clinical early so he could go to the lecture. He headed into the city without a ticket but hopeful that he could easily get one. I got on Google and gave him directions. There was a bit of a problem. The ticket office only takes cash or checks...and Cam had neither. He did have a cash card BUT the darn strip has stopped working and his new card hadn't arrived yet. So...he wasn't sure he could get a ticket but he was going to try. After about 3 phone calls with me, confused directions and two frustrated people he said he would just come home. I was reading books to the boys when Cam called again to say that he took a chance, found parking, and went to find a ticket. He arrived at the door just as it was beginning. He said to the attendant that he needed to buy a ticket and this miraculous thing happened....the attendant said, "Here's a ticket, please go in". Wow! What a blessing. As I hung up the phone I got all teary. I was so touched that Cam was able to get a ticket and was getting to hear the lecture. But mostly I was touched that I'm married to a man who was so eager to hear this lecture. I'm truly blessed.