"When you're down, and troubled and you need a helping hand..You've got a friend." James Taylor

Friends...we've made a lot of good friends.  Friends from childhood, from work, from neighborhoods we have lived in, friends from the Northwest, Eastern Washington , the Southwest.  We have been fortunate for that. But this is a TRIBUTE to our friends, Dean and Mad.  28+ years ago at a class reunion Dean and I discovered that we shared the same birthday. Since Bob and I and Dean and Mad are always looking for a reason to celebrate, from that time on, we decided to Celebrate that day together as couples.  I didn't go to school or even know Madeline until then, but I knew she was someone I wanted in my life. We began with dinners on our birthday at restaurants in Seattle then led to trips  down the coast to Oregon, Crescent Bar, California, into the Wine Country, where Dean was always saying "Life is Hell without Zinfadel,"  to Tucson, Mexico, Hawaii, Palm Desert and even Europe. Now, on the biggest trip of our life, Dean and Mad have joined us to help us travel through it.  They are the best!  They come to visit as often as they can bearing gifts of love, support, help and of course,  food.
We all love to cook and eat!  We have prepared many a good meal, together.  I remember helping them prepare for a dinner party that they were hosting, after I had visited my sister when she was sick, and crying while I peeled carrots for them.  We have been together for the good and the bad.
Madeline and I laughing in a restroom of a restaurant  in Palm Springs.  She was in a wheel chair for a broken tendon or something in her foot, and I was having trouble maneuvering it into such a small area.  We got to laughing so hard we sort of wet our pants.  We had to stay in the restroom to use the hand dryer to dry our pants before returning to the table.  On that same trip, Madeline, always the trooper, couldn't golf so we propped her up in a lounge chair in the yard while we went golfing.  Apparently, we propped her up over the sprinkler head which went off before we got back from golfing. oops!  So, many laughs and many tears, together. Thanks, Dean and Mad!