Looking Back, Looking Forward

By Jim.

We landed in San Diego late Friday night.  It was a blur of a week, and now we’re back on track after three days in Alabama.  Saturday, we hung with Gwen, working on such generational challenges as setting up an Instagram account…

…before getting into the spirit of the day – Cinco de Mayo – by heading into town to sip some local beer, where we were joined by Gwen’s brilliant and charming friend, Nikki.

Friday’s memorial service for DeWitte in Birmingham was a heart-warming tribute.  It was held in the chapel at Galleria Woods, where he and Mom have lived for almost ten years. They touched many lives there and a number of residents and staff members attended the service.  All members of the immediate family were there, and we especially enjoyed spending time with DeWitte’s son and his wonderful family.

Earlier in the week, before going to Birmingham to honor a life well-lived, we had a blast in Thousand Oaks, CA being Big Jimmie and GiGi to Mia, our adorable granddaughter, who shows us with every smile how much the world has to look forward to.

The highlight was taking Mia to a petting zoo and farm, where she had her first pony ride…

…checked out some birds…

…and loved riding the swings.

The Noel boys soooo love their little girl!

After two-and-a-half weeks in California (including our dogleg to Alabama), we head to Arizona Sunday.  We look back on some great memories we’ve made here, and look forward  to meeting up with friends from Connecticut (Tuesday) and Snoqualmie Ridge (Wednesday) in Scottsdale and Mesa for golf and good company!