On their 25th wedding anniversary Marion wrote a tribute to John about the wonderful husband he is.....I did leave a brief comment and just signed it 'Mam'....the name my grandchildren call me.....
Marion's email address was included on her blog....I bravely wrote telling her how much I enjoyed her blog, etc. I debated a long time before pressing the send button. To email someone in Wales that I didn't know was so daresome for me. I thought that was the end of it. However, the next morning (Wales is 5 hours ahead of us) I had a long, newsy email.....I was thrilled beyond words....We emailed several times a week and the following Easter I received an unexpected phone call....from Marion. We often talked about how we would like to meet each other.....I never in my wildest dreams thought we ever could....Our Lord is so gracious......perhaps He knew we each had something to give each other that would enrich our lives tremendously....
From there our friendship has grown by leaps and bounds. After several months, we extended and invitation for them to come for a visit and they accepted. For 12 glorious days we enjoyed them immensely......but sadly, the time came to carry them back to the airport in Atlanta.....
John and John.........
The morning of departure our daughter, Amy, and grandchildren came to bid them bye......
Marion had mentioned she liked to see the Union Jack flying so we flew it while she and John were here.......
Curbside at the airport......
Trying to think of everything we hadn't said that we wanted to say.......
Holding back tears that I shed later.......
A picture that is burned in my memory................when we returned home, I traced their flight on the computer until they arrived back in England....then they had a 3 hour drive home....I didn't sleep that night.....Marion called me once they
were safely back home......was it real or was it a dream...their visit.....no, the evidence is here.......Marion dropped a shopping bag that she had tied with a knot (a safety precaution) by a wall and .......I've left it there. Every time I see it.....I know they really were here......we don't say goodbye in our family....when our twin granddaughters were born we lived next door to each other but my husband as well as our son-in-law are ministers and the time came when we each had to move. They were so heartbroken each time we left each other. They would turn their heads and not look at us when they left. We agreed to just say, "Fare thee well." So that was our parting words to Marion and John.....until we meet again.........
