Old Friends Anna and Andre

While I was prepping the van for travel, I saw a figure on a bike with a familiar yellow windbreaker. She was kind of looking things over and we recognized each other. "Steve?" "Anna?" It was so good to see her. I visited their camp and had a good long chat with Andre. Anna pulled up a little later and we were old friends gabbing...catching up on kids and activities and the depredations of age and "progress.". Andre had carefully counted out his pills for the journey and left them home, same with his cash. $300.00 on the table. They started out from Dearborn with $7.50 in their pocket. Anna used her debit card to get $150.00. They pulled into Camp on Friday in time to dude up and go Square Dancing in Boynton Beach. As I am de-accessioning food and they are new arrivals I took them bread and marmalade from the Green Market. Andre has a new Internet Provider and was having trouble accessing his email from the library so I researched that and loaned him a seldom used cell phone to call his kids and tech support. Anna said of the kids,"They won't worry." I thought "I would worry." They are just ripping and on the cusp of 80 years young. Andre is reading the recent book "The Pilgrims" which is the unprettified history of the earliest Europeans and their less than honorable dealings with the Native Americans. This year the last five days of their vacation will be a cruise. For now they are on the lake in their tent and van. The 89 Ford Van, the last one his department did the modeling for, before he retired is perking right along. Looks great. So do they.