Will I Ever Get Caught Up?

2012 June 29

On June 8, 2012, I finally got to meet Kandy, from Green River, Wyoming!  We had met online some years past on a now defunct animal/pet board. We have corresponded via email and telephone over the years, as well as by snail mail. I knew a lot about her, and have always admired her intelligence, her thoughtfulness, her point of view, her love of animals, and her spunk. She has been generous to me, when she didn't really know me at all. I won't say more than that at this time, because I don't want to embarrass her.

But, because of my own demons, in the form of depression and social anxiety, I was very anxious about meeting her. Truth be told, I was anxious about returning her phone call. I mean, lots of times, I totally do not know what to say on the phone, or in person. My fallback position is to say exactly what I'm thinking, which isn't always the best thing :-/

I enjoyed finally meeting Kandy. When I asked if she brought pictures of her precious grandkids, she suggested that we go meet them in person! That was unexpected and awesome!  The twins have been on my prayers for a long time. They were preemies and had multiple health issues, so I was thrilled to finally get to meet them, too.

The babies are at that age where they are shy with newcomers, so I sat quietly. I would've taken loads of pictures of then and their beautiful Mom, but my batteries died! I'm guessing that somehow, the little christmas stockings and gift cards I sent to Kandy's son and DIL were never received, because Kristen shared the boxes of keepsakes from when the kids were in the NICU and the stockings weren't there. One mystery solved.

Kandy also introduced me to her son, Jeff and her husband, Mike. Both men were very engaged in trailer and boat upkeep, as summer had finally arrived in Wyoming and they were preparing for family times at the local lake. Let me just say this: Kandy's DH is very cute! They make an adorable couple.

Because of my dead camera batteries, I got no pictures of Kandy, Mike, Jeff, Kristen, Weston or Kylie. Bummer. I also didn't get any pictures of Kandy's Mom, who is an adorable pixie of a woman! Kandy is blessed to have such a good friend in her Mom. I am a little envious. 

Kandy graciously offered to drive us to an area where we might see some wild horses the following day and I was actually looking forward to it, as well as to relaxing a little bit and maybe being more comfortable. Unfortunately, Raymond really wanted to move on, and so I called Kandy to let her know. I think she was disappointed, but told us to stop by her house on our way out of Green River, so that I could at least meet Malone. 

We did! I was sad that I had never gotten to meet Kandy's Newfie, Hazel, who passed away over a year ago. But I had always admired photos of Malone, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity. Ray was less than thrilled with the idea, but it was his turn to suck it up :) Since we hadn't passed a store before arriving at Kandy's house, I was relying on Raymond to take photos with his camera. Oops! Sometimes, his shutter sticks and he for some reason doesn't notice. He took one picture of Kandy, Malone and me and I looked at it and asked him to take another. Unfortunately, this was when his shutter stuck! Didn't notice it until several days later when I was loading the pictures into the computer.

So, this is the only picture from this momentous occasion:

Kandy, JM, Malone

How sad is that? 

Kandy, I apologize for being so quiet, but that's how I am till I get comfortable. And I apologize for saying that I'm always uncomfortable, but to some degree, it's the truth.  I wish we could've stayed in Green River for a few days and maybe just sat around and had coffee and really talked. maybe on my next trip to Wyoming?