EGYPT

As a young girl in 1965, Rebecca Rowley cherished Friday nights when she and her older sister would camp in front of the TV and watch The Adventures of Jonny Quest, mesmerized by the cutting-edge storytelling, the exotic locations, and the ground-breaking animation.  Week after week, eleven-year-old Jonny, his sidekick Hadji, and their faithful dog Bandit would encounter everything from ruthless treasure hunters in the Yucatan jungles to vindictive mummies in the Valley of the Kings.  Although the TV series lasted only one season, it sparked within the heart of young Rebecca a desire to be an archeologist. 

Flash forward eight years to the fall of 1973.  Rebecca is a sophomore at Brigham Young University, enthusiastically pursuing a degree in Archeology--at least until one of her professors—Dr. Buzzkill—informs her that there’s no market for archeologists.  (Note:  this is eight years before “Indiana Jones” becomes a house-hold name and “Archeologist” the coolest of professions with the possible exception of “Death Metal Rock Star.”) 

Instead of telling Dr. Buzzkill to write his own epitaph, young Rebecca panics and changes her major to English.   And for this, I am eternally indebted to Dr. Buzzkill because it is in an English Lit class in the fall of 1973 that I first set eyes on this beautiful young woman with long Rapunzel hair.  And I am instantly smitten.  I ask her on a date (which, in her words, turns out to be “the absolute worst of all possible first dates in the history of dating”).  In spite of that rough start, seven months later we get married and start a life journey together that takes her further and further from that dream of becoming an archeologist until one day, somewhat serendipitously, it circles back.  Sort of. 

Knowing of her ambitions and knowing how way leads onto way, before Rebecca and I tied the knot in 1975, I promised her that one day I would take her to the Archeology Capitol of the World.  Four children and thirty-seven years later, two months after officially retiring from a career in public education, I bought—or, rather, we bought—two tickets for a Nile cruise that included excursions to the Pyramids of Giza, the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, the temples of Abu Simbel, etc. etc. etc.; in short, the magic and the mysteries of Egypt.