We had all been scheduled to go to the Ogontz Suzuki Institute in New Hampshire for the last week in August 2008. Laura’s diagnosis upset those plans. With lots of help, we were able to arrange for Anne Mei to go by herself. Laura's sister Julie drove her up; Louise Lutz brought her back. At camp the Fiore's watched over her. For no other reason, I think, than that she had been on her own for the first time in her life, Anne Mei announced when she returned that she was now a vegetarian. Of course, having many Hindu friends gave her the idea, but I can’t think of any other reason for the timing. At first Laura thought this was cute. As it became apparent, that Anne Mei was serious and that she was going to be eating something other than what Laura and I were eating for supper, Laura began to get annoyed. When she started criticizing Anne Mei and trying to force her to eat the meat that had been prepared for dinner, I started to argue with Laura, who expected that I would support her, not Anne Mei. Laura was being driven into Philadelphia everyday now for radiation treatment. She and I would have had worse arguments about Anne Mei’s new diet if I didn’t realize that Laura was really afraid of one more thing in her life going out of control. She wanted Anne Mei’s eating at least to get back to normal. After the pseudomonas infection disrupted treatment at the beginning of October and the resumed treatment became more traumatic, Laura forgot about what Anne Mei was eating. Anne Mei maintained her vegetarian diet for about six months.
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Not right, nor orderly.
Non-FictionThe phrase "not right, nor orderly" comes from John Donne's poem, "An Anatomie of the World," written on the first anniversary of "the untimely death of Mistress Elizabeth Drury," the 14 year old daughter of his patron, Sir Robert Drury. The poet u...
