The girls would go looking for guys; The guys would bring their shiny cars and drive around showing them off. Kept running into the same people, the boys from Rockford. They became acquaintances and then friends. In the Spring of 1982, Kathy was looking to go to Prom with someone fun and Francis was that guy. She asked and he said yes. We remained friends and would go out as a group on the weekends; bowling, dancing, movies, skiing, parties. Definitely life long memories.

Well 29 years went by...and one Facebook post changed their lives. They spent hours talking and texting. The laughs picked up immediately. We remembered the stories, the people, the family members, "the chair". In those years, Kathy's mom and Francis' mom had been on committees together and had gotten to know each other. Their worlds became even smaller.

After many hours of texting, talking and laughing, we decided that maybe we should reunite. Francis arrived at Sea Tac Airport. Kathy was anxious, yet excited. She knew it would be a weekend of laughs!! So she was waiting for him to arrive at baggage claim and then this guy was crouched down behind another man. Oh my Goodness, it is Francis. And he was giggling!! We went to breakfast, the Space Needle and wandering around Seattle. We talked and laughed and talked and laughed. Francis met Daniel and told him that D's were fine for grades. He discovered that this was not acceptable to Kathy. But Francis made points with Daniel. Then he had to leave and go back to snowy Minnesota. Before he left we were planning our next visit. It was a fabulous trip.

Amazingly, we were able to see each other about every 6 weeks through the rest of that year. Some were happy times and some were very sad times. Kathy went back to Iowa in March to celebrate Francis' birthday. Kathy's Mom, Colleen offered to make Francis liver and onions. He dramatically declined. Then the whole family returned for Colleen's 90th Birthday. It was great weekend. Francis met many of the family for the first time including Christopher and Jennifer and Kathy's brothers. Daniel already had his back!! He survived. Then Kathy met Francis' parents and Kathy survived. In July, Francis and Hayley came to Washington and visited and did all of the touristy things; Mount Rainier, Northwest Trek, Pacific Ocean, Seattle. At Thanksgiving, Kathy came back to Iowa to spend with her mom. We ended up in Illinois and Francis had to work on Black Friday. Kathy's mom was sick that weekend. We spent a lot of time in the Urgent Care in Chicago and in the Emergency Room and Doctor's offices. Francis was with Kathy and Colleen to help move furniture, make beds, answer phones. Colleen introduced Francis as "our guy". Not sure where she came up with that but we certainly have had fun with it.

2018 started with the worst news you could receive that your mom had a stroke. That's how Kathy's started, but Francis was at her side. For the first week of February, Francis was with Kathy and her family as we said goodbye to her Mom. It was a growing time in our relationship. We discovered many family and friend connections. Throughout the year, their were trips back and forth for both Kathy and Francis. Kathy had gotten her nursing license for Minnesota and got a job in Rochester, MN to fulfill that dream of working for Mayo. That started on October 8th, preceded by a rode trip from Washington to Minnesota. We had a great time of sightseeing and visiting friends along the way.