We have been enjoying an unseasonably warm autumn for the last month of weeks now. So thankful for it yesterday as we traveled a bit to help celebrate a friend's 80th birthday. Loraine is the surviving spouse of Bill, a boss Greg had one summer when he was a college student at Purdue studying agronomy.
But Bill and Loraine were so much more to Greg and several other men than a good boss and his hospitable wife. The small group of people who worked under Bill H one summer developed friendships - one of which was Greg's best man in our wedding in 1980. Many summers after that job ended, for at least three decades, these people would gather together to celebrate the camaraderie that was built in the summer 1976 (before I had even graduated from highschool and met Greg 😉). The gathering was fondly called The Clinton County Reunion.
After we married in 1980, I began to enjoy getting to know these people and the group continued to gather for a picnic and an afternoon of volleyball and visiting - making note each summer how our children were growing up. This continued until said children started to feel too old, or lost interest in joining the gathering, and soon thereafter health issues started to impede our ability to consistently get together. We began to feel the beginning of the end of this happy group, but we tried valiantly for a while to continue gathering - sometimes separated by several years as we all got older. When Bill died in July of 2023 it truly felt like the end of an era. Greg had the privilege of speaking at Bill's funeral, but I couldn't attend because I was in the throes of my first chemo infusion's side effects. While I wasn't feeling exactly great yesterday (I was having some issues from a minor medical procedure a few days prior), Loraine's 80th birthday celebration was a not-to-be-missed opportunity as far as I was concerned.
To see Bill and Loraine's legacy in that room, many of us not knowing most everyone else, but having the common bond of knowing and loving this godly couple, was a testament to their influence through more than half a century. It was a very good day.
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And now for the YOP portion of this post...
Another gifted doily:
Dawnglow is a small-medium sized doily (7-8 inches) that I have enjoyed making several times now. An easy enough pattern that makes a pretty presentation, I think.
This time around I crocheted this pattern with Artiste size 10 cotton crochet thread in the color, Ice Blue. This is fast becoming one of my favorite colors. I need to make something from it for myself to keep while I still have some in my stash.
To see what other YOPpers are up to, visit our group on Ravelry by clicking the graphic below:
OMG, your hubby is a Purdue grad!!! I was there from fall 74 thru 79 (I co-oped so 8 semesters over 5 years. I was in engineering.) MaureenHD I embarrassed my daughter recently as a fellow visitor at the Cincinnati Aquarium had on a Purdue shirt. I couldn't resist asking him if he was an engineer.
ReplyDeleteYes, Hub received his Bachelor's in 1977, and finished his Master's in 1979 (I'm 5 years younger, and we met when he was in grad school). Even though I didn't end up graduating from Purdue, I, too, feel an affinity for Purdue grads when I see one in the wild. We live in IU country and Purdue grads here seem to kind of live under the radar. lol
DeleteHow nice to have friends for that many years. Hopefully you are feeling better today from your procedure. Your doily is gorgeous as always. The color is so soothing.
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