Sunday was a good day. Heck, any day in an upright position is a good day! This particular day was made extra special because Beth and I had the chance to catch up with three old friends.
Sunday morning Beth, NaNa and I drove to Tampa to pick up Beth’s sister Debbie at the airport. We made arrangements to have an early lunch with Kandice Thomason, a friend from Texas who recently relocated to Tampa. Kandice was a key member of an amazing marketing team back at Huguley Hospital that I had the privilege of leading. Actually there wasn’t much “leading”. It was more like "stay out of their way and don’t screw things up". Of all the great things that Kandice did for the hospital one particular project that I will personally be eternally grateful to her for is what she did to help plan my retirement party and the employee video tribute.
Kandice has an incredible story of hope, courage and love that she has given me permission to share in this blog. Four days after my retirement party and less than a month before she was to get married to a really great guy (Nathan Thomason) she was diagnosed with Stage 3b Colorectal Cancer. You talk about having life throw a curveball at you......... I can’t even imagine. Love conquers all and the wedding took place as planned although the honeymoon was interrupted by surgery and chemo. The first six months or so of their marriage they were apart more than they were together while she was being treated in Houston and Nathan worked and carried on as best as he could. Thanks to great doctors at MD Anderson, the support of Nathan, her family, friends and her unwavering faith Kandice is now cancer free. Nathan, who also worked at Huguley when they met has received a nice promotion within Adventist Health System and they recently relocated to Tampa. When we're in Florida we're practically neighbors. It was great catching up and seeing Kandice doing so well. Her energy level and passion for life are at all time highs. She's perfect in her new role as part of the Mission and Ministry team of the Tampa Division of Adventist Health System. It's going to be fun to get to visit with her and Nathan occasionally.
After getting back to the island Beth and I caught up with the Moore brothers (Marty and Steve), who we had grown up with in Mulberry. Marty was a year ahead of me in school, but in Mulberry grade levels didn't mean much. We all hung around together (social status meant less since nobody in town had any). We were very good friends from elementary school through high school. Beth and Steve were also good friends in school.
We were able to visit for a bit at Cindy and Drew's (Beth's sister and brother in law) beach house. It had been at least thirty years since any of us had last seen the other. We had a lot of catching up to do in a short amount of time (kids and now even grandkids took up most of the conversation).
Beth and Steve were pretty well behaved in their youth. As for me and Marty, well lets just say that because of a little luck and the good Lord we're still here. There are some stories that could be told but maybe it's better that they don't get repeated. Surprisingly, so many of us knuckleheads who grew up in Mulberry back then have somehow survived in spite of ourselves. Most have gone on to be reasonably productive members of society. Exactly how that happened I'm not sure, but I strongly believe divine intervention played a role. It's been said many times but is worth repeating, thank goodness we grew up before cell phone cameras and you tube!
Sunday morning Beth, NaNa and I drove to Tampa to pick up Beth’s sister Debbie at the airport. We made arrangements to have an early lunch with Kandice Thomason, a friend from Texas who recently relocated to Tampa. Kandice was a key member of an amazing marketing team back at Huguley Hospital that I had the privilege of leading. Actually there wasn’t much “leading”. It was more like "stay out of their way and don’t screw things up". Of all the great things that Kandice did for the hospital one particular project that I will personally be eternally grateful to her for is what she did to help plan my retirement party and the employee video tribute.
Kandice has an incredible story of hope, courage and love that she has given me permission to share in this blog. Four days after my retirement party and less than a month before she was to get married to a really great guy (Nathan Thomason) she was diagnosed with Stage 3b Colorectal Cancer. You talk about having life throw a curveball at you......... I can’t even imagine. Love conquers all and the wedding took place as planned although the honeymoon was interrupted by surgery and chemo. The first six months or so of their marriage they were apart more than they were together while she was being treated in Houston and Nathan worked and carried on as best as he could. Thanks to great doctors at MD Anderson, the support of Nathan, her family, friends and her unwavering faith Kandice is now cancer free. Nathan, who also worked at Huguley when they met has received a nice promotion within Adventist Health System and they recently relocated to Tampa. When we're in Florida we're practically neighbors. It was great catching up and seeing Kandice doing so well. Her energy level and passion for life are at all time highs. She's perfect in her new role as part of the Mission and Ministry team of the Tampa Division of Adventist Health System. It's going to be fun to get to visit with her and Nathan occasionally.
After getting back to the island Beth and I caught up with the Moore brothers (Marty and Steve), who we had grown up with in Mulberry. Marty was a year ahead of me in school, but in Mulberry grade levels didn't mean much. We all hung around together (social status meant less since nobody in town had any). We were very good friends from elementary school through high school. Beth and Steve were also good friends in school.
We were able to visit for a bit at Cindy and Drew's (Beth's sister and brother in law) beach house. It had been at least thirty years since any of us had last seen the other. We had a lot of catching up to do in a short amount of time (kids and now even grandkids took up most of the conversation).
Beth and Steve were pretty well behaved in their youth. As for me and Marty, well lets just say that because of a little luck and the good Lord we're still here. There are some stories that could be told but maybe it's better that they don't get repeated. Surprisingly, so many of us knuckleheads who grew up in Mulberry back then have somehow survived in spite of ourselves. Most have gone on to be reasonably productive members of society. Exactly how that happened I'm not sure, but I strongly believe divine intervention played a role. It's been said many times but is worth repeating, thank goodness we grew up before cell phone cameras and you tube!
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| Don't let that smile fool you, she's one of the toughest people I know! |
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| Four of Mulberry's finest. L to R Marty Moore, Me, Steve Moore, Drew Eason. The older we get, the better we were! |
