Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Our connection to Walter Reed and Johns Hopkins started a long time ago. Our son and daughter in law both attended and graduated from Johns Hopkins. He went to the a University of Wisconsin Madison medical school, then completed his residency at the old Walter Reed, then went on to finish a cardiac surgery fellowship at Harvard/Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Before his first deployment, our grandson was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital. We moved to DC two years later. We visited the old Walter Reed to see our son’s office and the hospital, and also brought out of town guests there to visit the army museum filled with interesting medical artifacts and oddities. Eventually the old Walter Reed merged with the Naval Hospital to become the state of the art military medical center. Before our family moved to Virginia from DC a few years ago our son drove from Capitol Hill to Bethesda every day for work as a cardiac surgeon until he retired as a colonel after twenty one years in the army and three deployments. All the news lately reminds us of the places that are all too familiar to us. You could consider it a six degrees of separation scenario. We haven’t driven by the place since 2019 and when we do I always send a photo to them as a reminder. How time flies. 

DSW Shoes

When my husband says he needs a pair of shoes, that means he probably needed them a year ago. He starts to mention it here and there, and I know it will be about six more months before he actually looks. While we were in the Bethesda area yesterday for more unpleasant business, I asked him if he would like to stop by DSW while we were in the area. It was after Christmas, it was a Thursday, and it should be less busy than the weekend. We used to go to the DSW store in Milwaukee when we lived there with some success. And since he's been retired for awhile, the shoes he needs are easily found there. I was also on the lookout for some ballet type flats. So we headed to DSW and he immediately found what he wanted. The shoes always end up being exactly what he was looking for. I, on the other hand, have huge feet. When I was growing up, it wasn't "I'd like that pair of shoes" - it was "what do you have in my size?" And to this day, if I ever find something I really like in my size, I am amazed - although it is really less of a problem now. Of course, after Christmas was probably the worst time for me to find something because the large sizes stock was particularly low in all the styles. My husband found a pair he liked for me - rather traditional, but they fit well and are a step above a ballet flat. Regardless, the price can't be beat and it is usually worth the trip - even though it was a year after the idea came up.