A Second 49-Year Reunion (Road Trip Day 91)

Smoke from the Canadian fires have resulted in poor air quality all around us in Michigan and Northwest Ohio. The smell and haze are so thick it seems like dusk in the middle of the morning. This is a Smoke Tree - I saw it today while visiting Ney, Ohio - the town I lived in from aged twelve until eighteen when I married and moved to California. I had never seen a Smoke tree and found it appropriate that we discovered one today during a smoky day.

We visited with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Sue again today. We spent about an hour and a half and while we did not solve the world’s problems, we did discuss some of them including global warming, electric cars, and the need for technical education to keep up with the changing automation in manufacturing, and politics in general.

During my uncle’s career at Johns Manville, he would end up working shifts of 12 to 14 hours. Aunt Sue would keep busy by hooking rugs (her rag rugs are amazing!), crocheting, beading, and creating fabric jewelry. She shared her work today and gifted Joe and me several of her pieces. I encouraged her to ask her daughters to help her set up an Etsy or equivalent account. I took photos of the items she gave us.

Drink Koozies

Beaded Angel Pin

Cloth Necklace

We then met up with Connie, Rick, and their daughter Annie in Bryan at Grand Plaza Mexican Grill for dinner. Connie and I have not seen each other since July 12, 1974. She was my other bridesmaid!

We had a great time getting up to date with our lives. Rick and Connie adopted and fostered twenty-five children over the years. They have had good times and hard times and yet they maintain a sweetness and willingness to help their now adult children, grandchildren, and others in need. In the past, Rick’s job often had him traveling and Connie would be home with twelve children. She shared that at one time she had 8 teenage boys at one time. Wow! Talk about doing important work!

Spending this time with Connie reminded me of how blessed I was with her friendship at 18 years old, and how blessed I feel to have been in her space again today. Forty-nine years later. I wrote about my other bridesmaid, Diane, on June 17^th when we met for the first time in forty-nine years. Diane, Connie, and I all worked together at Lester’s Diner in Bryan. We were all the same age and in the same grade but in different high schools. They were my closest friends during 1973 and 1974 when we worked together. I had high school friends – Diane and Connie were my first ‘adult’ friends made in the world outside of high school. We picked each other!

Connie

I keep asking myself how I let those friendships remain fallow for forty-nine years and why I felt the strong need to connect again recently. I think it may be a way to come full circle. They were the relationships I built at the very beginning of my working career and here I am at retirement wanting to reconnect.

And in this stage of life, I can actively add them back into my friendship fold. One can never have too many people to love!

I also got a sweet text from my friend (and mentor) Scott that they (he and Judy, his wife) were leaving Colorado and driving to Swanton this coming Saturday. They were sorry to have missed us this trip and wished us a safe journey to Minnesota. I have known Scott and Judy for forty-six years!  

So today I am grateful for the gifts of time, family, and friends.

What are you grateful for today?