An old Chinese proverb says “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  We quickly dispensed with ours — a single mile — with just 1,090 left to Kansas City. Depending on our AAA Trip Tics™ we headed northwest on I-40, passed through Ashville and the scenic Pisgah National Forest and toward Charlotte listening to Cats In The Cradle. The little Gremlin looked for prey as The Streak played and we motored toward Nashville. We rested overnight there in a Motel 6®. We drove through the scenic southern tip of the Blue Grass State, entered the Land Of Lincoln, and headed due north while listening to I love you, I Honestly Love You. I sat on my “inflatable doughnut” for most of the trip trying to ease some of the pain.

The twins were handling the long drive reasonably well but kept asking not “If we were there yet,” but “Why we were moving again?”  You’re Having My Baby by Paul Anka played as we were leaving Illinois. Funny Face, I Love You by Donna Fargo, possibly the worst song of 1973, rang out as we headed due west into Missouri. We drove practically the entire width of the Show-Me State and, a few miles from our destination, for what seemed like the tenth time, The Streak by Ray Stevens resonated from our speakers. Finally, we were in big K.C.

We rented a duplex in Independence, about twenty miles east of Kansas City, and bought a second car; a 1966 Ford Fairlane. Lisa and Laura wanted their own rooms, but when that didn’t happen; they were happy to learn, as were Marty and I, there were two bathrooms. It was a first for us. The twins had been uprooted two times in as many years, and I tried to explain why.  I was in the Army, and the Army moves me around a lot, and that pretty much means we were all in the Army.  They were overactive and inattentive said the teachers in the kindergarten nearby, where we enrolled them. Maybe the twins were just ahead of their time — an anterior to ADHD?

Marty and I liked the Kansas City area, lots of friendly people, great barbecue, good radio stations and among the best professional teams in football and baseball; the Chiefs and the Royals  In downtown K.C. there were scores of war monuments, and it was home to the official WWI memorial. The price of living was reasonable, and the gasoline embargo and subsequent shortage had little negative effect in the Kansas City area, except for the price increase.

My symptoms improved as the doctor I was seeing at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas (45 minutes northwest) had me on a regiment of Antropine and treated me with compassion. The doctor thought I had something called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) then not commonly diagnosed and had me experiment with different diets. He also suggested I see a gastroenterologist at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver.

I did well in my job as chief of statistics at the News Center, where we processed and sent news releases to a soldiers hometown. While stationed there, I took some courses at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) night school, where I maintained a 4.0.

I had the desire to be well — not just for my own comfort — but for the benefit of my family too. I had another incentive to get healthy when the Commander of the Center prepared a special efficiency report for the sole purpose of recommending that I be promoted as soon as possible. The request needed to go through the “System”  at the personnel center in Ft. Myers, Virginia and could take up to a year.  Nevertheless, it would come with me having been in the Army less than eight years; way below the zone for Sergeant First Class E-7. That’s the average rank one retires with after serving twenty years.

But I would not remain in the Army long enough to see that promotion. After spending a few days at the nearby Richards-Gebaur AFB Hospital for another perianal surgery, rest and a strict diet, I received orders for Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver to see a specialist. Another transfer within a year, but this one would not include the family.

Just as I was about to leave Kansas City for my medical treatment in Denver, Marty had an idea she shared with me. Maybe it wasn’t any of my work, past or present, that was causing my illness — but she and the twins. Perhaps we should just cut our ties after six years of marriage, as a way of improving my health, she suggested. Was I hearing this correctly, a divorce would be good for you, it’ll make you all better? Never heard that one before. Surprised, confused and saddened, I hugged the twins tightly and left for Denver with lots of good memories and what I could carry in a single suitcase.

Fitzsimmons could hopefully determine why I was having 6-8 stools a day and incontinence two or three times a week. The diarrhea was so acute, I’d already had two surgeries to repair fissures and fistula. Agent Orange exposure causing health problems like mine — the Army and VA said in 1974— was far fetched, but I wondered.

I was processed into Fitzsimmons, a huge medical center that had treated President Eisenhower. A Suite was named after him and within it hung a robe with stitching that read: “Much Better, Thanks.” He wore it when meandering about with the secret service, tired of answering people about his condition.

I was surprised when they put me up in his large and comfortable suite on the top floor that included a balcony overlooking the Rocky Mountains.  Not true of course, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Here in 1955, he was treated for a heart attack and later at a different hospital he was suffering from inflammation of the small intestine. Remember that symptom.

I, however, was given in a nice two-person room that didn’t include a roommate. And the nurses, wow. One could think that, and even say that in 1974, as the “Thought Police” hadn’t been invented and complimenting a member of the opposite sex with, “You have beautiful eyes,”  would not result in federal charges for sexual harassment. Granted some of our evolving mores are good; like taking actual sexual harassment seriously, how we treat the disabled and respect toward all people. But I digress. The more I thought about Marty’s proposal, the better I felt. Not much was going on medical wise except for experimenting with diets and so on. They were in no hurry, and neither was I.

I was anxious to see the Aspen in the Colorado High Country in the fall. I was granted a weekend pass. I got a “date” with a pretty girl solely for the purpose of being shown around. We rented a car and off we went into the Rockies. It was exhilarating.

The weekend was great, and I was looking only to the future.  Marty had other ideas. She saw the credit card receipts that came with the bill and wanted to know what I was up to. Why had I rented a car? I told her. I also volunteered that I was doing better since arriving at Fitzsimmons.  Although she had come up with the idea that a divorce might be the best for the both of us, she didn’t expect that we would actually go through with it. She wanted to keep her options open.  I, however, had already done my grieving and feeling sorry for myself. I was going to concentrate on the future, move on.

But I wasn’t supercilious about it. I worried about Marty becoming a single parent and the inevitable consequences a divorce has on all involved, especially 5-year-old Lisa and Laura.

To be continued . . .