We woke up early and went out to walk the beach at low tide.  A cold brisk wind whipped and pushed us along as we walked.  Of course, we had to walk into that same wind to get back to the car later.  But before we walked back, we found our “Dream Pond” (a small inlet on the bay side of Protection Point) and sat for a moment sheltered from the wind by huge logs of driftwood.  The sky is overcast and hardly a soul on the beach. We had a dreamy beautiful walk.

We had a great time at Rick’s 40th high school  reunion yesterday!  Rick is back to being himself.  All the demons of the past, all the rowdy kids have-over time- become very nice men and women, rough stones smoothed by the river of life.  He really enjoyed reconnecting to everyone.  There was a great turn out.   It was so amazing to meet all these people  Rick has talked about over the years.  I was reading everyone’s name tags and would shout, “Rick, Tim Morone’s here!”  Rick had not seen his high school buddies since 1970, so I just knew them from their names and from all the colorful stories Rick has told me over the years.  It was like having storybook characters step out of the pages of a book.  Lots of fun.

I was surprised at how many people showed up, maybe 1/4 of the class.  And most  who were there live in the same area where they grew up.  Many were employed at the Bremerton Shipyard.  Many are grandparents.  Many of the men are Vietnam Vets like Rick.  Tim Morone, mentioned above, was a belly gunner in Viet Nam.  He told me only ONE out of TEN belly gunners survived.  He was a lucky one.

Here are some pictures from the evening.  I had fun capturing photos of my happy Rick! The reunion was at a pub, The Flotation Device, in Purdy, just down the hill from their Peninsula High School.

Here is Rick and Don.  This guy is out of control funny.  He accidentally (?) made an explosion in the chemistry room (not funny) and the whole school had to evacuate the building!

High school sweethearts from class of 1970 and still married to each other:  Mike and Sally!

Rick and his friend Jan.  Jan and Rick transferred over to Peninsula High from Tacoma High around the same time.  She  still looks pretty identical to her high school graduation photo!