Garden Ramblings: Visiting with the Joyce's

We left Whistler on Monday morning, on our way to Vancouver, Washington, to visit our dear friend, Vickie Joyce and her family.

The last time we saw Tom and Vickie was in 1996 or 97, we couldn't quite remember which year it was. Tom and Lee worked together at AirWest, Republic and then at Northwest. The Joyce's lived in El Granada, and Val and Cathi used to babysit for Kennedy and Erin when they were young, and our families spent a lot of time together.

We had lost touch with the Joyces, but when we decided to make this road trip, I googled them to see if I could locate them, as I knew that in 2002 they were in Vancouver. Well, that google people search is pretty cool! I located them, AND their phone number!

So I called, thinking I was pretty sure that I would recognize Vickie's voice, but the voice on the recorder was a mans voice, and I couldn't be sure it was Tom. So I didn't leave a message. I called again, about a week later, and got the same recorder. This time I did leave a message, telling them that I was looking for Tom and Vickie who used to live in El Granada, and had two children, Ken and Erin, and left my phone number. The next day, Vickie called!! She was shocked to get my phone call, and she had been thinking of looking us up, as well. She had very sad news, though, as Tom had passed away on Christmas day last year. We were both devastated to learn that, and regret that we hadn't tried to reconnect earlier.

We told Vickie that we were coming up her way on a road trip, and she invited us to spend the night. We talked about our kids and grandkids, and got caught up a bit over the phone. We were REALLY looking forward to seeing her, and the kids again. Val and Cathi were excited to hear that we were reconnecting, and Cathi asked me to be sure and find out what Tom's younger brother and sister, Randy and Diane, were up to, as well.

We left Whistler at 9:00 am on Monday morning, for what would be a long day of driving. We encountered road work coming down the mountain, and then heard on the radio that there was a TWO HOUR border crossing wait at both Peace Arch and Huntington! It was marginally better at Aldergrove, so we made the decision to go through Aldergrove, which added time and miles to the trip. But it was a shorter wait, so worth the extra time.

We got to Vickie's about 6:15 in the evening. As we were pulling into the driveway, Vickie came out, and it was just as though we had just seen her last week - I would have recognized her anywhere! Ken was there, Erin, her husband Troy and baby daughter Kaitlin were there, too, and when Randy heard that we were coming, came over as well! So, it was like a reunion!!

We all talked and talked, and everyone wanted to see pictures of Val and Cathi and their families, so we got out Lee's computer and showed lots of family pictures. They all had great memories of the girls. We have decided that we need to have a family reunion, somewhere in WA in the near future!

Ken, Erin and Randy are all fabulous! Randy has a granddaughter! How can it be that all of this has happened, when I really don't feel that much older? Randy and his wife Cindy, are planning a trip to the bay area, and we're hoping that they will stop in and see us. Since Ken, Erin, Troy and Randy are all big red wine afficionados, we'll tempt them to visit with Napa! : ). And we're hoping that Vickie will come for a visit in October.

Now that we've reconnected, we'll be sure to stay in touch!

Following are pictures - regretably, Troy had taken Kaitlin home before I thought to get out the camera! : (