Chris Fenesy:  

I don't know if anyone will read this but at least I'll get to practice my typing. Do you ever wonder if this computer thing will catch on? First, a few words about the now and then photos above - the difference in the pictures is due to a) Joe Pesci put my head in a vise, b) Optical illusion created by the glasses and mustache, c) ravages of time, d) all of the above, or e) b and c only if never a or d. My guess would be c - I can't believe that in less than two weeks I'll be 58. I'm sorry I was unable to make the 40th reunion. I've been kicking myself for missing it - if you've never seen a podiatrist kick himself, it's not a pretty sight. Hope everyone is well and had a good time. Funny how you think you know everything there is to know when you're in high school and you look back 40 years later and realize you didn't know anything and now that we do know everything we can't remember the question - guess it's a wash! Here's my story and I'm sticking to it - after high school I attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. and graduated in 1973 with a B.A. in Biology which qualified me to do nothing so I returned home and entered the workforce as an orderly at West Essex General Hospital in Livingston. I remember taking one special patient to surgery, pushing the gurney through the halls of the hospital, and upon reaching the doors to surgery I said - Hey Lama, how bout something for the effort. With a finger he motioned me forward and whispered in my ear that he would grant me eternal peace and happiness on my death bed - so I got that goin for me! Not long after that I started work as an O.R. tech, (passing instruments to the surgeon during surgery) not to difficult so long as you remember the names of the instruments. It was at this time that I had my first contact with podiatry, podiatrists and foot surgery. I became extemely interested in the profession, who am I kidding, they drove nice cars and had big houses. I was accepted by, and decided to attend the California College of Podiatric Medicine located in San Francisco, graduating in 1979 and completing a two-year surgical residency in 1981. (to be continued) Where was I? Oh yeah, 1981, the year I married Jean. I met Jean while at the podiatry college - she worked in the student administration office, was a native Californian who had grown up in Santa Barbara and San Francisco. She had never been to the East Coast. Uh-Oh! Shortly after our wedding we started our cross-country drive to New Jersey where I had accepted an associate position with one of the podiatrists I had met while at West Essex General Hospital. After arriving in New Jersey at the height of the Fall folliage season Jean mentioned that she hated the colors - the browns, reds, oranges and yellows - she liked greens and blues - I told her to just wait a couple of months and she'll see black and white. She actually disliked the humidity in the summer more than the snow in the winter, and she hated the snow in the winter! After 2 and 1/2 years, which absolved Jean of all her sins, past, present and future, we decided to move back to California - did you know that married people live longer....or it just seems that way! Back in San Francisco in 1984 - what to do - the hippie/Haight-Ashbury experience was over - I decided to attend a podiatry conference in Las Vegas, where, luck would have it, I ran into a former teacher who had just talked to a friend who had his practice in Los Altos, Ca. and was looking for an associate with the thought of retiring in one to two years. We met, I worked in his practice for a year; then purchased the practice. In 1987 Jean and I moved to Sunnyvale, Ca. and our daughter, Michelle, was born - a life changing event. It was great to be able to eat Zweiback again! Years passed, the practice grew, millionaires were made and came and went in Silicon Valley, Michelle grew, played softball, basketball and volleyball until her medial meniscus said enough. Helping with homework assignments was fun and I could contribute up until the 7th grade then from that point on things looked vaguely familiar but ...Expand for more