WHERE WE LIVE — A car pulled up under the portico at our hospital, so, being a gentleman, I stepped back to where they were beginning to open the doors, to see if I might be helpful.

Well. Whew! The cigarette smoke was almost billowing out. As I helped to open the front passenger seat door I noticed a blondish young lady puffing away. Others may have been smoking. I didn’t tarry.

Then moments later, when they entered the hospital, I saw aforementioned young woman was pregnant. Many months so, obviously. Nothing more to be said.

KNIFE MAN — He walked up to me and asked, “ Are you a veteran?” Hearing my response he said, “I’d like you to have this, and thank you for your service.”

He handed me a really nice pocketknife. I told him I wanted to write a column about what he was doing. He asked me not to. He wanted no publicity. So, I won’t tell you Bill’s last name. A good man, is he.

BEAUTIFUL — Now, I don’t mean to brag, but she said, “You have the prettiest veins I’ve ever seen.” Well, now.

Let us — no, me — be a bit clearer. She was performing a 2-hour plus ultrasound, and she was referencing those veins not seen externally, so to speak. I even watched the “show” on the monitor. Good blood flow. “Pretty” veins. Yes!

PAM PACK — There are no other schools’ athletic teams’ names in the entire country like Washington High School’s Pam Pack. It’s unique.

That’s why I wish the school and sports journalists didn’t drop the “Pam” as they often do. There are plenty of “Packs,” of one kind or another, I suspect, but no Pam Packs. None.

Also, I wish the girls’ teams weren’t often referred to as the “Lady Pack.” They’re the Pam Pack. And, if they are the “Lady” whatever, then why aren’t the boys’ teams “Gentlemen“… ?

CULTURE — It would seem that most male law enforcement officers have an aversion to hair. Surely such a high percentage of bald pates isn’t a fact of heredity. I guess such is the “look” they choose to affect. Why so?

NOT FORGOTTEN — Walter was a World War II veteran. Of the Wehrmacht.

I got to know him when I would choose to eat my evening meal at the EM Club on post. That was Fort Skelly, in (on the outskirts) Regensburg, Germany.

I would go by myself, and usually take a book to read. Walter worked there in the evenings as a waiter. He called me “Professor.” We became friends.

Very near the end of my tour he asked me when I was going home. I told him. He said, “I never forget you.”

Surely Walter is gone by now. But I assure you, old friend, “I never forget you” either.

A SHAME — Most of us now know that we have a generation who now either can’t or won’t write in cursive. Schools aren’t even teaching it now, I’m told. What a sad state this is.

When someone writes a personal letter — and prints — I’d just as soon they not write me at all.

Oh, well. So it goes.

IMPRESSIVE — There was some information imparted at the May 8 graduation exercises at UNC that I found interesting. It was about how many degrees were being conferred that day.

As follows, there were: 3,721 BA and BS; 1,383 Masters; 651 Professional Education; 251 PhDs.

Also, there were 652 who became the first in their families to earn a college degree.

Impressive numbers, all.

See you next Tuesday.