Wednesday 2/9/11

Jose's and Zeida's house was surprisingly calm this morning considering they have a 2 year old and an 8 year old to prepare for school.  Once the kids were off to class, Jose and Zeida took Karen and me to their favorite breakfast cafe, which was opened and is owned by Jose's sister.  The servings were humongous! We had sticky buns (English muffins covered in almonds, cream cheese, something sticky/sweet - yummy), granola/blueberry pancakes, banana nut pancakes, cranberry pancakes, eggs, toast, fruit, hash browns, hot chocolate, and coffee. Our visit was much too short.  Somehow we mis-communicated.  Karen and I had a lunch date 4 hours away north of Atlanta, so our itinerary demanded that we hit the road.  Jose and Zeida had taken the day off work to "play" in Columbia with us.  We were very sad to leave them. This is a family that truly puts Jesus as the center guiding point of their lives, and the joy they experience as a family is infectious. We wish them continued health and happiness.

The drive to Dawsonville along the Appalacian foothills, half on highways, half on backroads, was scenic and pleasant.  Our mission this afternoon was to see Barbara, Cam's all-time favorite teacher.  Barbara taught English at Woodbridge American High School in England when Cam was in high school.  She has since lived/worked in Belgium, Grenada, Greenland, and now Italy (there may be other countries as well). Barbara is visiting her brother, Allen, in Georgia, and the two of them shared some wine along with chicken salad sandwiches (first time in Cam's life that he has ever LIKED chicken salad - he even ate 2 sandwiches), vegetable noodle soup, clam chowder, and brownies.  Karen and Cam decided that Barbara's wonderful sense of humor must run in the family - Allen kept us chuckling through most of our visit.  Now a retired attorney, Allen is also a very gifted artist, and we enjoyed a tour of his workshop where he creates his exquisite bronze sculptures (see one in the photo in Barbara's lap). It was far too easy to overstay our welcome with Allen and Barbara, so we had to force ourselves out the door after a few hours to drive into Atlanta. 
Note to Barbara: I hope that you are able to eventually access this blog on Allen's computer. Every "Woodchuck" who reads this journal is going to be SO envious of me for the time I got to spend with you.  I am confident that I can speak for all of your students over the many years that you have been touching lives - you are a very special lady, friend, mentor, and inspiration to all of us.

Our final stop of the day was at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.  We have been blessed so far in our journey with minimal traffic.  This was not true for Atlanta.  Living less than a mile from work and a couple of blocks from the center of our little town has spoiled us.  We won't be retiring to any big cities some day.  In Atlanta, we visited Karen's nursing school roommate, Jill, and her husband, Mark. We have not seen Mark in nearly 28 years, and Jill only for a single quick visit.  It was very emotional for us to see Jill, partly due to the passage of years and the realization that it is so easy to lose contact with some of the people to whom you are closest; and also because Jill has had some significant health challenges this past year, and we were visiting her at the hospital.  We had forgotten how genuinely funny Jill and Mark are.  Jill is dry, and a little mischievious. Mark is quippy and quick-witted.  We shared a lot of laughs, and enjoyed continuing the friendship that seemed to just seamlessly pick up where it left off 25 years ago.  Interestingly, one of Mark's and Jill's 4 daughters followed Mom's footsteps to become a nurse. Both Jill and Danielle work at Northside Hospital. We had a chance to meet Danielle as she was finishing her shift in the ICU this evening.
A truly serendipitous moment occured as we were leaving Jill's room. Walking directly toward us down the hall were Jeff and Cindy Heath, some of our closest friends from home in New Jersey.  Cindy's sister-in-law is a patient at this hospital.  Jeff and Cindy retired to Florida a year ago, and Karen has missed Cindy terribly.  It is amazing that thousands of miles from NJ and Florida, the four of us would step into a hospital hallway at the exact same moment and find ourselves face-to-face.  After lots of hugs and a few tears, we parted.
Karen and I located a BestBuy, bought a new Garmin GPS to replace the 10 year old inadequate one we have been using, checked into a Town Place Suites Marriot.  301 miles of driving today.