Since Diana’s death two years ago, i have only half-jokingly said “DIY psychiatry isn’t worth the money i pretend to pay myself.” This goes beyond her skepticism of Freud and Jung as well as the impossibility of “getting into another person’s head.” George W. Bush may have been onto something when he stated, “In Texas we don’t do introspection.”
Tony (Sleeze) Rocha, our Army buddy has kept in touch since 1972, visiting on average once or twice per year. He knew Diana and me, separately, for two years before she and i ever met. In those earliest days in the Army, we'd try to figure out what we'd do if and when we ever grew up.
From 1975-2016, all that was all on hold while enjoying what Beth accurately pointed out was a "front-row seat to the best show anywhere." Diana would sometimes tell folks we were just a pair of "Overgrown kids."
Now the growing up question seems not to merit much attention, at least from me. Who knows ... perhaps sometime before senility or rigor mortis, i might yet accomplish something noteworthy? (Nah!)
A neighbor in Sunnyvale asked me to summarize Diana's character in the fewest words possible with the fewest syllables. My response took almost ten seconds although, in the months since, i've not come up with any improvement: "Brilliant, sweet."
This website is, as much as possible, an attempt to let Diana's own words, performances, photography and artifacts she left behind tell her story. (Same with Tav and others.) The most extensive such piece, her letter to Hob, was written in a single sitting and took not quite three hours with an occasional sip of tea.
Upon completion Diana asked me to read it and tell her if i had any suggestions as to how it could be shorter, in particular, those parts concerning me. Having heard her over the decades tell friends and relatives bits of the story, my answer to the “1974-to-present portion” was: “Once upon a time we lived happily ever after.”
May 2018