We got a Christmas card from Tom and Carolyn today. Not for Christmas 2007 - this was last year's card that was returned to sender, resent, and has now arrived.
We met Tom and Carolyn in Popondetta in 1974. They were fairly new doctors from Canada working in conditions that must have seemed extremely primitive to them. After 4 years in the Sepik in PNG, the Popondetta hospital was almost state of the art as far as we were concerned. We socialised and when we went finish (back to Australia) we kept in contact.
When we met we had two kids - they had none. By the time we visited them in New Brunswick in 1990 they had five, and a few years later added a sixth.
This is what we garnered from the card. Son #1 is a neurological registrar (aka brain surgeon) who married a lawyer last year. Son #2 is doing a PhD and has to spend a semester in Paris - poor soul. Son #3 is teaching in Oman and doing lots of travelling (hasn't ventured to Oz yet). Daughter #1 is also teaching (Calgary), daughter #2 is in first year at Uni in Nova Scotia and #3 is in Year 9 and very sporty. Wow! They certainly did the right thing as parents.
We would like to meet up with them again, but there is no chance on our July trip. We will be pushing it to meet up with Ann (Kevin's cousin) and her husband Doug who live in British Columbia. Definitely no possibility of getting to the Maritime Provinces.
Besides, Tom and Carolyn have never visited Western Australia. We will have to keep putting forward the idea that a BIG TRIP is a necessary part of their future.
1 comment:
Tom and Carolyns kids are not very good at going to work and making a living. Tom and Carolyn only survived in Popondetta because of Joan and Kevins kindness (we are nice Canadians) who invited us to tea but we needed supper. Our best memories of Aussie bastards come from Joan and Kevin Tom Barry
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