Stephanie's Visit

I met Stephanie at a camp where we were paired as buddies back when I was eleven. We met back up at this camp for at least two years, maybe three - my mind is fuzzy - before Steph and her family moved to Michigan. After that, we became penpals and wrote letters - actual paper letters! - and cards back and forth. Over that time, her family moved to San Diego, I moved to Dallas, then Austin, then Dallas. We've seen each other in person three times now since camp way back when.

We have seen one another because Steph and her parents take a HUGE road trip every other summer - on the odd years - for like a month - all across the country, visiting friends and relatives along the way and checking out interesting things. Steph and her family came through Dallas in 1995 right before I moved to Austin. Then, they came through Vail when I was there with work in 2005, and now they came through Dallas again this year.

It almost worked out that I was going to miss them! I had a little relapse with my surgery pain on the day we were to originally meet. But, they were able to rearrange their schedule to accommodate a breakfast with us right before leaving town. I wish I could have had them over to my house, but having surgery and a pain relapse doesn't leave your house in any shape for company. So, we met them at a restaurant. It was so nice to visit with them again in person. These days, Steph and I write very few "paper" letters and cards, but we still keep up on email and now, yes, of course, on Facebook.

LM, eying the controls as Stephanie's dad took a photo.

I should say Stephanie was no novice to little fingers - when we went to take these photos, she turned the power off to her chair controls, knowing those controls would be the first thing to catch LM's eye when he sat down in her lap. This wasn't her first rodeo, you know what I mean!

LM, dubious that Steph had him figured out.

I hope we can make it out to San Diego to see them sometime soon. I hear it's a beautiful place and we know several people out there now, so it would be a fun place to check out. I hear the zoo is amazing...and of course, one of my dearest friends I met back in the day at camp lives there, so that's reason enough to check it out!

So glad to have visited in person once again! Thanks for coming our way!

See you soon.