Tic & Terrie are our good friends from Community Covenant Church in El Cajon, where we
attended for 25 years before moving here. It was great to catch up with them and hear what's up with their kids, mutual friends, etc. We so enjoyed their fun, energetic, warm, thoughtful presence for a little while (too corny? So sue me!). The deep, shared experiences over so long a time make it easy to pick up the conversation, again, though an afternoon seems to vaporize in an instant--gone before we're ready! Tom and I (especially, I) are learning to take careful advantage of these, now more rare, opportunities! Tom is a quicker processor (who isn't?). For me, of course, the minute they leave, as they're driving away, there are ten more questions (yeah, so, I've always had a bit of a delayed process in face-to-face interaction. It's why I'm more confident with email or snailmail than actual conversation, I guess--more time for my tortoise brain to process!). So, Tic, how's your mom?Mark has been a colleague, friend, and, in recent years, business partner of Tom's for, uh, a long time. I, myself, had
great fun getting to know him several years ago when Tom and I were 2/3 of his crew on two different, week-long sailing trips, two years running, in the San Juan and Gulf Islands near Seattle and Vancouver Island. So, cool (both Mark and the trips!). While Beth, Mark's amazing wife, and Jessye, their accomplished 13-year-old daughter, were helping Beth's sister out in Oakland (the reason for their trip west), Mark drove out for the afternoon to see our new house (and us). I had last seen him and his family in the fall of 04 (spent the weekend with them at the wonderful new home they designed), after a calligraphy seminar I attended in NC. It had been four years or more since Tom and Mark had seen each other (!!), though they talk almost every day. Mark is a bit (uh, actually, more than a bit) of a brainiac in a number of areas (again,...). So, like, 10 minutes after he walked in the door, he was explaining our heating/cooling options to us after taking a bit of a look-see at our systems (they're unusual). It's always fun to see/hear about his latest (mostly high-tech-ish) interests and how much deeper he usually pursues them than, well, anyone else we know. All that, and "the nicest guy in the world", as Rachel dubbed him when she called during his visit. Just three days earlier, Mark, Beth and Jessye had picked Rachel up at the airport near their house, meeting her for the first time, where she enjoyed their hospitality in Chapel Hill for a few hours before she headed off for a wedding nearby. So, once again, the time went all too quickly, but we had a terrific visit and are grateful that he took the time to come all the way out here (more driving time than visiting time!). So good to see him, even for a blink! Next time, we have to catch Beth and Jessye, too! Now, I need to get busy on those little icons he asked me to make two weeks, ago... --Sandy