A postcard of Arden House, Harriman Campus of Columbia University in Harriman, New York (as in Averill, I suppose) - I must have bought it, no one sent it - no memory of this one at all. I was never there, that I can remember. A Christmas card from someone named Shirley, long forgotten, covered in sparkly poinsettias, saying that I'm nice to know. A bus ticket, stamped in Louisville, Kentucky and travelling to Olney, Illinois. This one, I remember...

It was a stealth trip to see my lover, who was on furlough or something, from Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Olney is where my college roommate lived. I think I told my folks that I was going home with Anne for the weekend, and went on from there by bus to Louisville, then back to Olney, coming back to college with her. This was 1963. One did not just go to see one's boyfriend for the weekend. One snuck. I don't remember anything of Louisville, except being in bed with my man. I don't even remember the sex specifically. But I can still see him there, stretched out beside me, his uniform on a chair or something, I think. I can just see us in that hotel room, as if it will last forever. His favorite painting at that time was van Gogh's "Bedroom in Arles," which hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, and I still think of him whenever I remember the painting. I remember that hotel room in Louisville. Just a snapshot of a memory. Like the painting on the wall.