Goodbye to friends...

On Sunday a few friends got together at the Jericho beach to say goodbye (for the next year anyway) to Pete and Jenn and kids, who left for Toronto yesterday. We knew Pete and Jenn back when we lived on the same floor of our apartment building. We had Bronwyn and a few months later they had their daughter Sapphire. When we moved to Steveston we lost touch with them for about 3 years. We moved back here and then Bronwyn started kindergarten.

One day I got talking to Mike, the parent of one of the kids (Nicky) in Bronwyn's class. He mentioned that friends of his had just had a baby boy and, believe it or not, they had named their son River. As he mentioned their names, and then their daughter's name...a light bulb turned on in my mind and, yes, they were the same Pete and Jenn we used to know and they had indeed named their son River (so we are not the only ones). To make a short story long, we got back in touch and began to re-establish our relationship (time and cancer treatments permitting). They had mentioned to us they were leaving and so we knew it was coming. We enjoyed spending some time with them. Bronwyn and Sapphire are very alike and love playing together.

Too soon we had to say good bye. It was a fun afternoon. Sapphire went to the school that we are moving Bronwyn to this September, so we got to meet some other kids (and their parents) who may be in Bronwyn's class. Mike brought along his stilts and I got to try a real pair of stilts...I wish I had a picture. It's way more trickier than it looks. They are the kind that strap to your leg...not the kind that you hold on to.

Poor Sapphire was under the weather and it turns out she had a mild case of the chicken pox. She only got it mildly because she's been vaccinated. But our kids hadn't...so the panic set in! Anyway, the problem with Vancouver is that people are always coming and going. Our friends Jody, Matt and their daughter, Lola left at the beginning of summer. Now Pete and Jenn. It's hard to maintain friendships...but we wish them luck and we will miss them.