Word: elizabeth
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Michael was in the catbird seat for job choices, and through a network of friends he picked Atlanta and legal services for the poor. Elizabeth threw herself into expanding her cooking skills. They spent their money on art, food and wine. They found dinner parties, with the right mix of wits, a favorite form of entertainment. Michael loved "doing the wines," as he called it, and Elizabeth adored "orchestrating as much as possible beforehand, so that I could zip into the kitchen at the last minute without missing much of the conversation...
...adulthood, they stumbled in the beginning over distilled spirits. Out would come the whisky, the bons mots would fly, and the dinner hour would retreat. This bibulous behavior ceased one night after Michael heard a crash in the kitchen at 10:30 -- dinner yet to be served -- and found Elizabeth on her knees trying to salvage the salad. Soberly then, they matured together, washing dishes after their parties, discussing their evenings...
...next few years life slid along rather pleasantly. A daughter, Alexis, was born in 1973. Michael became legal counsel to the city of Atlanta, flirted with local politics, got out without losing his shirt. Elizabeth gave lectures on her culinary findings and in 1977 opened a little deli, Thyme for You, in a shopping mall. Her homemade soups and sandwiches were a smash. She made "20 grand real quick," and then "all of a sudden it occurred to me: This is me! This is it!" It lasted two years, until the wine-and-cheese shop from which she rented space...
...second daughter, Celeste, was due in March 1980. It seemed time to take stock. "Why Atlanta?" asked Michael. They had two years' running money, they figured. "We are very simple livers," Elizabeth reckoned. "I can make do with a cabbage, a chicken, some leeks. We could live on very little. I mean, I don't use makeup. We don't do drugs...
They had visited Savannah many times, beguiled by its aged squares and majestic live oaks. They bought a shabby mansion for $150,000, the mortgage, as well as a Small Business Administration loan, going in Elizabeth's name. Explaining the absence of her husband's name from the documents, Elizabeth says, "When women decide to do something, make a career, it ought to, well, it ought to be fair." For Michael's part, he was going to devote a year to getting Elizabeth's restaurant on its feet on the ground floor and getting their living quarters organized...