On Sunday morning, Jan.13, I took the limousine from Richmond to Washington National Airport. There a member of the Greater Washington DC PNAI chapter picked me up and took me to their general meeting in Rockville, MD and I was the main or guest speaker. It being the day it was (2 days before the Gulf crisis deadline), there were about 60 people, a larger than usual turnout I was told. I saw that everyone was sitting in rows so when I was introduced, I asked everyone to move out into a big double circle. I said I was throwing away my “script” (I was billed to talk about the history, goals, purpose and future of PNAI as well as about the next Convention). “Let’s tell each other when we last spoke to our kids and what they told you.” I asked the people with children who’d been there less than three years to start, more than five years, ten years, etc., around the room.
Today I got a note from someone who attended: “it was the best meeting we have had in years, probably because of your input.”
After an hour of this, I suggested we end the meeting, but they asked me to take at least another 15-20 minutes to say what I had come to talk about.
The couple who are presidents, Ben and Elaine Wostein, then took me to their home for supper before taking me back to the airport for my flight to Hartford at 8 p.m. They are lovely, warm Young Israel people. Imagine my pleasure when I mentioned Ruth Seligman and Ben said, “Harold Seligman was my best friend in college.”