A FRIEND IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU AND STILL LOVES YOU

 

Mike 1993

We lost a former neighbor and great friend of over 50 years on Sunday, April 16.    Mike suddenly left us.  Donna called to let us know he had passed in his sleep. Mike and Donna were our neighbors when we were all young and living on the same street in Spokane.  There were three families with children who were not yet school age.  But then Mike and Donna moved away.  Then our other friends Jim and Carmen moved.  We were the last to move.  However we kept in touch.  Years later, when we were empty nesters, we started coming from 3 states to spend time together. We had at least 7 reunions over the last 30 years. 

It was about in 1993 when our boat was anchored in Anacortes that Mike, Donna and Jim and Carmen showed up.  The plan was to day cruise and sleep on the boat.  We were able to go sailing one day.  Here are some pictures.

Donna, Mike, and Chris

Chris, Mike, Jim

Donna, Bobbi, Carmen

As I recall Jim and Carmen, Donna and Mike arrived in Woodinville in 1994 and we all enjoyed our hot tub together. 

Jim, Carm, Mike, Donna, Bobbi, Chris

Then it was off to Ashland, Oregon in 1996.

Donna, Jim, Bobbi, Chris, Carm, Mike. We enjoyed going out to eat.

Chris, Bobbi

Donna, Chris, Carmen, Mike, Jim

Carm and Jim were moving back east so we gifted them with a rubber chicken. There is a chicken joke we share but I'm not allowed to tell it!

In July of 1997 Mike, Donna, Jim, and Carm joined us in Friday Harbor.  Donna brought hats, noses with glasses.

Chis is half there due to random stranger who took the picture. 

Roche Harbor -- Mike,Donna, Bobbi, Chris, Carm, Jim

Carmen's dream was a trip to Aruba.  Jim made all the arrangements.  When we received a package in the mail we assumed it was info on our trip.  We opened the package and it was the rubber chicken! We couldn't stop laughing. That April in 2001we all converged on an all inclusive resort. 

Mike, Carmen, and Chris took advantage of the hot tub.

Buffet and different restaurant meals were the best. Mike, Carm, Bobbi, Chris Jim, Donna.

The more physically fit went snorkeling.  The beach was wind swept but dry.  When Chris and I went back on a cruise several years later the area was flooded. 

The mall had no elevator.  

We had reunions on the Oregon Coast at Tierra del Mar.  Carm and Jim would rent a house and bring a carload of food and we would all sleep in the 2 bedrooms and on couches.  The last year we got together each couple rented their own house.  

Mike, Jim, and Chris

Another good restaurant.  Jim, Carm, Donna, Mike, Chris, Bobbi

Donna and Mike cooked and we posed with our noses and glasses.

Upon hearing the news about Mike's passing, Chris said, "We lost one of the good guys." Mike, Donna, Jim, and Carm are friends who have accepted us no matter our faults.  Mike and Donna stopped by in November of 2022.  Last time to see Mike and catch up.  We are so thankful for the years together.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.