The
first priority was to visit Gabby. She's all grown up now. (I know, she's
been grown up for awhile now, but I haven't seen much of her for most
of the past decade.) I was introduced to Zoe, her faithful little dog,
and to her roommate - Gabby's, not Zoe's. They have rented a nice condo
in Campbell and all seems well on the domestic front. Gabby is also enjoying
making friends with new "boys" after years with one boyfriend
and that seems good too. At work, she is an event planner for the Men's
Warehouse chain, a job that pays her to throw coast-to-coast parties.
What a deal!
The next order of business was to visit our furniture. Yes, we still have a storage garage full of furniture and stuff - emphasis on "stuff". The big picture is that these things will join us in Germany after we create a guest loft in our barn. Now, that's not going to happen soon, but I thought we needed to see what all we had that might need to be moved. It had been over eight years since I had seen these things and, with some exceptions, they should have been sold or given away years ago. So, did we do anything constructive this time? No, it was just too overwhelming to try to look through our junk. We shook our heads, pulled the door closed, and resolved to keep paying storage for the foreseeable future.
We spent a couple days in the Bay Area on the business of seeing friends and shopping. Marianne had arrived a week before me, so she had enjoyed a head start. She reported that The Girlfriends were enjoying life, mostly retired, and all willing to gather around a glass of wine or two and compare notes and laugh.
In Fresno, we stayed with Mamo and Elemer of course. Weather here still allowed us to sit out on the patio, even if it was a bit too cool for a dip in the pool. It was nice to see that they were doing well. Mamo was looking forward to her trip back to Germany with Marianne in another week or so. But, that's another story.