This is my friend Karen’s Aunt Greta. She makes doing 88 years on the planet look easy. Karen & I went to visit her and take her to lunch last week. She lives in Chehalis, Washington.
Decided it would be a good time to do a little outlet mall shopping on the way down and to finally visit a Trader Joe’s…we dubbed this the Aunt Greta Tour ’09.
Last June, on my cycling trip in Croatia, I met a great guy named Tom Sanford. Tom told me he was going to go kayaking in BC with his buddy from Washington. So. They did. And. Last July, Kevin & I had them over for supper. His friend’s name is Lafe. We had a great evening.
So. Fast forward to this year…
I emailed Lafe and told him we were planning the AGT ’09 and would like to stop in for coffee to meet him and his wife and help break up the long drive. No way, says Lafe. You’re both coming for dinner and then we’ll direct you out to our seaside cottage and you guys can stay there for as long as you like…and…it’s only an hour or so from Chehalis.
So that’s what we did. We had a fabulous Columbia River salmon dinner, complete with chocolate/ginger cake. And after supper, Karen sat down to their grand piano and began playing amazing piano. It was like we’d suddenly been seated in a lounge. I had no idea she could do that.
Do you ever have those moments when you think, Damn, my friends are cool? It was like that. It was a Moment.
After the music and the wine and the dinner and wonderful conversation, Lafe & Barbara drove for about 40 minutes while we followed. The last part of the journey was down a steep dirt road with huge maples overhanging the track, creating a dripping green tunnel to the sea. And there was our new little home. They showed us around, and then left to go back to their house.
The next day we found Aunt Greta’s place, took her to the requested Applebees for lunch and had a fine time visiting her back at her house.
We shopped, got some great deals and made dinner back at our cottage, listening to all Lafe & Barbara’s great CDs and drinking a Chilean red.
Life is Good. Aunt Greta is Cool. Following up connections to new people is Fun. The AGT ’09 was a complete success.