Page 87 - Philly Girl

Philly Girl 71

My 40th Birthday Present to Myself

Following the Challenger explosion, NASA sought to recruit
former employees who had demonstrated stellar work. Den-
nis was one of them. This was 1988. We lived in San Fran-
cisco and owned a home, had two sons ages 3 and 6. I said
no. No, no, no… I loved it here, my kids had friends and we
had friends, and I had finally become a psychotherapist with
a thriving practice. I had earned that degree at night, writing
papers until the wee hours, and working full days as a nurse
midwife at SF General, leaving me sleep deprived. No, I said.
NASA was begging Dennis to come back to Goddard
Space Flight Center in suburban Maryland. So it was him
or me. We went to couples counseling for a year, trying to
resolve this. Finally, I said yes. We sold our four-room dump
in Noe Valley (now worth 3 million dollars), bought a cus-
tom house in Silver Spring, Maryland, and arrived one week
to the day before the Loma Prieta earthquake struck San
Francisco—and split our old house in half.
Montgomery County, Maryland, had a wonderful
school district, neighborhood pool, and tons of kids. Jesse
had a ball. But there was nothing for me or Sam. Noth-
ing. The school bus picked up Jesse so there was no meeting
other parents. The Cub Scout parents just dropped off their
kids, and Dennis became de facto cub leader. From my huge
house, I watched the leaves on the trees turn beautiful colors,
with nothing to do all day. There was no state reciprocity for
my marriage counselor license. I had nowhere to go. I was