Wednesday, May 30
Let the “vacation” begin! Jim slept until 8:30 this morning which is almost unheard of, but he deserved it after all the miles he has driven in the last month and a half! I awoke around 7:15 which is very late for me, too.
Eventually, we drove over to Wally World to stock up on groceries for this week’s activities and then promptly hit the pool! The water is freezing, but once one is in, it’s not quite so bad since the temperature outdoors is in the 90’s.
Mike came over after work and before his church activities to have supper with us. It was great to see him and get caught up on his new job, etc.
We called it an evening after a walk around the campgrounds. Just a lazy, do nothing to shout about day!
Thursday, May 31
Today’s the day that Joyce and Gary close on the house in Maryland. Once that is taken care of, they will jump in their vehicles and come to Richmond to spend the night with us. We are so very excited about that! We’ll have to talk fast since they are only spending the one evening here. But…once is better than never!
Mike came over around 6:30 and helped us wait on Gary and Joyce. Kelly had work to catch up on since she had been in Afghanistan for almost 2 weeks. We’ll see her tomorrow night.
Finally! Joyce and Gary arrived about 7:15 and the party began! They are now officially homeless and retired. Wow! What a day for them.
Friday, June 1
Once all four of us were awake and stirring around, we enjoyed a leisurely
brunch outside on the picnic table as we chatted about future plans, kids, and most importantly, grandkids!
I think that I mentioned last year that we’ve been friends almost 36 years, but I didn’t tell how this friendship began. So…today’s the day for a walk down memory lane.
Henry (my first husband, who died of cancer) and I lived at 4823 53rd Street in Lubbock, TX, with our son John in 1971 when Joyce and Gary moved in 2 doors down. They only had April at that time. I was pregnant and expecting a baby (Jimmy Clint) any moment, when the friend who was supposed to keep John while I had Jimmy, had a family emergency…so…even though I had met Joyce only once, I asked if she would keep John while we were at the hospital. She did…and it’s led to a friendship that has followed all their moves from Lubbock, to Amarillo…Sweetwater…Champagne-Urbana, IL…Cheshire, CN…and then eventually Salisbury, MD.
Joyce and Gary have walked through the years with me through many of my trials and my happiness. I can’t imagine them not being a part of my life so I feel very blessed that, though
Gary and Henry were the best of pals, Gary has embraced Jim with the same enthusiasm.
Joyce and I can add minutes to our cell phone bills without a blink of an eye. So…when we’re together, there is no stopping
our conversation flow. What wonderful friends! What’s that saying…something like…A friend knows everything about you and loves you anyway … that’s Joyce and Gary…they know all about me and love me anyway!
All too soon it was 11:30 and we had to watch Joyce and Gary leave, in separate cars packed to the hilt, continuing their journey to their new home in the Houston area.
After another grocery run, we opted for a short nap before doing laundry. Now we had this laundry bit down pat…while the laundry was going, we’d take a pool break…then when we were through with the pool the laundry would be ready for the drier…sounds good, huh? The only problem is we forgot to shove the coins in on one of the washers so it hadn’t even begun! Oh, well…
Mike and Kelly came over around 7:00 for dinner and a movie. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day.
Saturday, June 02
Jim: It was, in all aspects, a leisurely Saturday around Big V. We slept in until 8:00 and then just piddled around until Mike and Kelly joined us for breakfast around 10:45…bacon, eggs, pancakes, and lots of good hot coffee...all shared at the picnic table under a beautiful blue Virginia sky and the green canopy of trees surrounding our campsite. What a morning!
After breakfast Kelly shared some pictures that she had taken during
a recent trip to Afghanistan. On the right Kelly is in a field of bright red flowers that resemble poppies, but are really something else. In the other photo, Kelly is sitting on an abandoned Russian tank. We chose to 
share these two photographs that were taken in Afghanistan with you to show the contrasting landscapes.
While Kelly’s main job is videography, something at which she demonstrates great skill and art, she is also an accomplished still photographer. Barbara and I both admired the way in which many of her photographs showed wonderful depth perception, something we both want to learn.
After viewing pictures and talking about the overseas trip, the kids had to leave to take care of other obligations for the afternoon, but not without us taking some more pictures of them. While reading through a copy of the journal that we have in Big V, Mike gave us a hard time about a statement attributed to me during our visit to Richmond last September in which I (allegedly) had mentioned that Kelly was taller than Mike. Now, the facts are that the paragraph appears to be in my style of writing, and Mike IS a little taller than Kelly, so I am forced to provide this bit of retraction.
To provide a “little” humor and demonstrate the truth, we took
these pictures of the kids from the floor level of Big V. In the photo to the right, Kelly is standing on her 
tiptoes. Not to be outdone, Mike decided that he needed to tower over her in the second photo.
Once all four of us were awake and stirring around, we enjoyed a leisurely
brunch outside on the picnic table as we chatted about future plans, kids, and most importantly, grandkids!I think that I mentioned last year that we’ve been friends almost 36 years, but I didn’t tell how this friendship began. So…today’s the day for a walk down memory lane.
Henry (my first husband, who died of cancer) and I lived at 4823 53rd Street in Lubbock, TX, with our son John in 1971 when Joyce and Gary moved in 2 doors down. They only had April at that time. I was pregnant and expecting a baby (Jimmy Clint) any moment, when the friend who was supposed to keep John while I had Jimmy, had a family emergency…so…even though I had met Joyce only once, I asked if she would keep John while we were at the hospital. She did…and it’s led to a friendship that has followed all their moves from Lubbock, to Amarillo…Sweetwater…Champagne-Urbana, IL…Cheshire, CN…and then eventually Salisbury, MD.
Joyce and Gary have walked through the years with me through many of my trials and my happiness. I can’t imagine them not being a part of my life so I feel very blessed that, though
Gary and Henry were the best of pals, Gary has embraced Jim with the same enthusiasm.Joyce and I can add minutes to our cell phone bills without a blink of an eye. So…when we’re together, there is no stopping
our conversation flow. What wonderful friends! What’s that saying…something like…A friend knows everything about you and loves you anyway … that’s Joyce and Gary…they know all about me and love me anyway!All too soon it was 11:30 and we had to watch Joyce and Gary leave, in separate cars packed to the hilt, continuing their journey to their new home in the Houston area.
After another grocery run, we opted for a short nap before doing laundry. Now we had this laundry bit down pat…while the laundry was going, we’d take a pool break…then when we were through with the pool the laundry would be ready for the drier…sounds good, huh? The only problem is we forgot to shove the coins in on one of the washers so it hadn’t even begun! Oh, well…
Mike and Kelly came over around 7:00 for dinner and a movie. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day.
Saturday, June 02
Jim: It was, in all aspects, a leisurely Saturday around Big V. We slept in until 8:00 and then just piddled around until Mike and Kelly joined us for breakfast around 10:45…bacon, eggs, pancakes, and lots of good hot coffee...all shared at the picnic table under a beautiful blue Virginia sky and the green canopy of trees surrounding our campsite. What a morning!
After breakfast Kelly shared some pictures that she had taken during
a recent trip to Afghanistan. On the right Kelly is in a field of bright red flowers that resemble poppies, but are really something else. In the other photo, Kelly is sitting on an abandoned Russian tank. We chose to 
share these two photographs that were taken in Afghanistan with you to show the contrasting landscapes.While Kelly’s main job is videography, something at which she demonstrates great skill and art, she is also an accomplished still photographer. Barbara and I both admired the way in which many of her photographs showed wonderful depth perception, something we both want to learn.
After viewing pictures and talking about the overseas trip, the kids had to leave to take care of other obligations for the afternoon, but not without us taking some more pictures of them. While reading through a copy of the journal that we have in Big V, Mike gave us a hard time about a statement attributed to me during our visit to Richmond last September in which I (allegedly) had mentioned that Kelly was taller than Mike. Now, the facts are that the paragraph appears to be in my style of writing, and Mike IS a little taller than Kelly, so I am forced to provide this bit of retraction.
To provide a “little” humor and demonstrate the truth, we took
these pictures of the kids from the floor level of Big V. In the photo to the right, Kelly is standing on her 
tiptoes. Not to be outdone, Mike decided that he needed to tower over her in the second photo. Finally putting all kidding aside, they stood together in a more natural pose. They are really a fun couple of kids (actually, young adults), and we appreciated so much the time they spent with us this morning. 
With breakfast and the morning visiting over, it was time for Barbara and me to make our daily trip to Wally World to buy groceries for the evening meal. One of the few downsides to our downsizing is that our refrigerator has a very small capacity, so if we are going to have visitors and do a lot of cooking, we have to resort to daily trips to the grocery store to get what we need.
Back at the campsite we put away groceries; I started working on the marinade for the country style pork ribs and the sausages that I would grill for the evening, and Barbara started work on her Russian cake for dessert.
All this activity worked on us, so we took time out for a couple of hours of reading and napping before we got really serious about the meal we would prepare for Mike, Kelly, and Kelly’s parents when they all came out to visit tonight.
Shortly after 7:00 pm the gang all arrived at the RV park. After giving a tour of Big V (Dave and Jan, Kelly’s parents, hadn’t seen her yet), I got back to the grills while Dave, Kelly, and Mike went down to the recreation area to shoot some baskets and Barbara and Jan visited.
Once everything was ready, we gathered around the picnic table and feasted on barbecued ribs, chicken, sausages, potato salad, baked beans, steamed mixed squash, and cornbread made from a recipe that Barbara got during our trip to Lady Lake, Florida during March. Anyone who walked away from the table hungry had only himself or herself to blame!
After the dishes were done and put away, we all settled down to a nice visit inside Big V, getting caught up on events since the last time we saw the Jividens at their home in Phoenix, Arizona. It was almost as if we had seen them only the night before, and were just picking up on a conversation in progress. Dave and Jan had been very gracious hosts when we stayed with them on our trip to California in December.
With breakfast and the morning visiting over, it was time for Barbara and me to make our daily trip to Wally World to buy groceries for the evening meal. One of the few downsides to our downsizing is that our refrigerator has a very small capacity, so if we are going to have visitors and do a lot of cooking, we have to resort to daily trips to the grocery store to get what we need.Back at the campsite we put away groceries; I started working on the marinade for the country style pork ribs and the sausages that I would grill for the evening, and Barbara started work on her Russian cake for dessert.
All this activity worked on us, so we took time out for a couple of hours of reading and napping before we got really serious about the meal we would prepare for Mike, Kelly, and Kelly’s parents when they all came out to visit tonight.
Shortly after 7:00 pm the gang all arrived at the RV park. After giving a tour of Big V (Dave and Jan, Kelly’s parents, hadn’t seen her yet), I got back to the grills while Dave, Kelly, and Mike went down to the recreation area to shoot some baskets and Barbara and Jan visited.
Once everything was ready, we gathered around the picnic table and feasted on barbecued ribs, chicken, sausages, potato salad, baked beans, steamed mixed squash, and cornbread made from a recipe that Barbara got during our trip to Lady Lake, Florida during March. Anyone who walked away from the table hungry had only himself or herself to blame!
After the dishes were done and put away, we all settled down to a nice visit inside Big V, getting caught up on events since the last time we saw the Jividens at their home in Phoenix, Arizona. It was almost as if we had seen them only the night before, and were just picking up on a conversation in progress. Dave and Jan had been very gracious hosts when we stayed with them on our trip to California in December.
We did stop the talking long enough to grab plates full of Barbara’s delicious Russian cake before resuming our visit. There was lots of good-natured bantering and laughing as we shared stories of our different adventures.
All too soon (it seems we use that phrase a lot, but that’s the way it is when visiting good friends), we had to call it a night, so we took a few more pictures, said our goodbyes for the evening, and saw Mike and the Jividens off on their drive back across Richmond.
To call this a wonderful day would be an understatement. Having the time to visit with family and friends has been a definite plus for retirement, and we are doing all we can to make the most of it.
Calling it a week in Richmond, Virginia,
Jim & Barbara
“A friend is like a morning filled with sunshine and an evening filled with stars.”…Anonymous
All too soon (it seems we use that phrase a lot, but that’s the way it is when visiting good friends), we had to call it a night, so we took a few more pictures, said our goodbyes for the evening, and saw Mike and the Jividens off on their drive back across Richmond.
To call this a wonderful day would be an understatement. Having the time to visit with family and friends has been a definite plus for retirement, and we are doing all we can to make the most of it.
Calling it a week in Richmond, Virginia,
Jim & Barbara
“A friend is like a morning filled with sunshine and an evening filled with stars.”…Anonymous
