Friday, August 25, 2023

Day 16 - Kalamazoo, Michigan 0 miles - Living the Dream

Other than Family, I have no Friends that I have known longer than Karen (Barstow) Freshwater. We became close friends in 1978 when we were at the University of Missouri and haven't seen each other since 1990. We have stayed in touch via Facebook and have hoped for some time to see each other again. It has been a dream to spend the last two days with her and her husband Les on their beautiful farm in Mannawan, Michigan. I am so happy to hear about their lives together, their boys, now grown men, Chris, Alex and Ian. It was great to introduce them to Janice and share with them the joys of our life together. We also met Sylvia, a soon-to-be 17 year-old exchange student from Italy who will be staying with them until January.

Les and I became fast friends. He, like me, has many books on Lincoln. One of Karen and Les' grandsons name is even Lincoln! Both Karen and Les have very interesting jobs. They met while working in the pharmaceutical industry. He is a statistician and does statistical analysis of new drugs. She moved from being a pharmecetical scientist to becoming a Physician Assistant specializing in and working with patients parkinsons disease patients with muscular sclerosis. Here I am, sitting with three scientists including, Janice who have done so much amazing work in their careers. I had nothing to add except my amazing ability to make funny faces and noises without meaning to. We all have our talentes, I guess.


We had marvelous meals, hiked the farm and fed the horses and donkey. The Boys had fun playing with their sweet dog, Guiness. We shared stories and reminisced. It was so wonderful to get to know Les and for them to get to know Janice. I am confident will we share more special times in the future and hope they wii visit us in Oregon so we can return their gracious hospitality by hosting them in our home.
It was a dream come to true and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to be here. I continue to be a.azed by how everything has worked out even better than planned!

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