Reunion Under the Gateway Arch and on the Mighty Mississippi

A scientific symposium held this week in St. Louis afforded me a rare chance of visiting the Gateway Arch and the mighty Mississippi for the very first time. It also occasioned a reunion with three schoolmates.

At the opening reception party Monday night under the Gateway Arch, I literally stumbled upon a former classmate of my graduate school, 18 years after not seeing each other. H is in charge of reagent sales for the company that sponsored the opening reception.

At the riverboat party the next night sponsored by another vendor, I met a couple, again after 18 years of no contact. The couple now works for NIH, after many years in drug industry. Standing in the drizzling rain on the deck, I could not help but savoring the miracle encounters.

On the riverboat, a white-haired old man dressed as the resurrected Mark Twain greeted us. He autographed for me in the gift book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" with these words: Report on my death have been an exaggeration. During a dinner table chat, he explained the reason for the penname "Mark Twain".

In Wednesday night's closing ceremony at the NASCAR play ground, I met a postdoc working for a classmate of mine in Baltimore. He had two hole-in-one puttings on a mini-golf course. My classmate was said to have trimmed his handicap of golfing significantly.

Apparently, there is a lot of catch up to do for me.