The Doctor
SUNDAY MEMORIES
Judy Wills
When we lived in Heidelberg (1980-1983), we lived in an apartment building, furnished by the U.S. government.
Our apartment building – ours was the upper left, on the end
The dormer windows to the right were the maids rooms windows
It was a three-bedroom, one bathroom, living room/dining room combination room, and kitchen. In our particular housing area (Mark Twain Village, or affectionately known as MTV), the buildings had “maids rooms” above one side of the stairwell – one room for each of the apartments in that stairwell – and the other side of the stairwell was open space. We lived under the side that had the open space. The maids room consisted of two twin beds, a desk with chair, and a wardrobe. There was one bathroom along the hall for use by all the maids rooms. That’s where we housed visitors that came to us. Fortunately, I had grown up sleeping on twin beds, and had two twin bedspreads that fit nicely. Unfortunately, that room became our “junk” room until someone came to visit, then we had to clean it out rather quickly. But it worked. Also, down in the basement were the washers and dryers (for the entire stairwell), and “cages” for anything we couldn’t fit in our apartment – bicycles, etc.
I don’t remember a lot of turn-over with occupants in the stairwell, while we were there. That was a good thing. The family living below us consisted of a military man and his wife, who was from France. She was an excellent cook, and showed me many things that the French people cooked. Unfortunately, none of it lasted with me!
Below this family, and on the first floor, lived a military doctor and his family. He had grown up living in Brazil with his missionary parents, and spoke fluent Portuguese, as that is the language of that country. He also spoke English. His wife was Brazilian. They attended our church. I taught their oldest daughter the piano for a while. She was amazing!! His name was Dr. Lipsi.
There are two events that involved Dr. Lipsi while we were there:
1. One day I was in our kitchen, with Janet, and was cutting some soft cheese for some snacks.
Credit Pixabay
Since it was soft cheese, and I was using a new cheese cutter (like the one in the picture), I “pushed” the cheese forward with my thumb. Janet’s eyes grew wide and she exclaimed…”OH!!” When I looked at my hand, I realized I had sliced quite a chunk off my thumb! It was fairly deep, but I hadn’t even felt it! I wrapped it in a towel, putting pressure on it, and ran down to see Dr. Lipsi. He very generously took came of it – telling me to “keep pressure on it!” Like I was about to let go!!
2. Our Karen had started wearing contact lenses while we were in Heidelberg.
1980 – Judy, Janet and Karen with friends in D.C., before going to Germany
Karen in her glasses
1982 – Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany, inside the Eagle’s Nest
Karen in contact lenses; Judy’s mother, Judy, Janet
One evening, as she was about to go out with friends, she came dashing back into the apartment in tears, saying that the wind had blown one of her contact lenses out of her eye, and she couldn’t find it! She was in a panic about it, but fortunately, had a spare lense. So she inserted it, and left with her friends. When Dr. Lipsi heard the commotion, we told him the situation. He took his flashlight, went outside, and FOUND THAT LENSE – in the dark evening, ON A BUSH!! What persistence!! We were so grateful. We had just given up and thought it was gone for good. WOW!
~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~
Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.
Old Things R New 
That time was a highlight in your life.
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