42 years, and then this happened

I'm still in awe over this.

I have to give back ground first.
Way back in the Fall of 1973, when I was 19...
and while I had a very bad case of lingering horrible mono ...

I began writing to a girl, Pam, about my same age who lives in Michigan.
She was married and already had a baby boy.

We became what they use to call "pen pals."

Remember, this was way before Facebook and cheap long distance phone calls.
If you wanted to know someone in another state, you wrote to them by regular mail.

This picture of Bill and I, was taken the same year.
I got married over a year later, and Pam and I continued to trade stories about married life. We were
both "there" through our pregnancies and births, our mothering, and the highs and lows of everything.

Pam's Mom passed away when she was 19, and eight months pregnant with her first child.
I would often shake my head wondering HOW she got through the days and years  
without the extra help and support I always had from my Mom.

We traded LOTS of stories through the years decades. But I never met her. I still have never met 
her, and we are now Grandmas. A few years back we discontinued snail mail between us and keep
in touch with email and Facebook and phone calls (they are free now you know)

Last month our grandson Austin, got married in the Columbus, Ohio temple. 



Pam and her husband Tom were invited to the reception afterwards, so she and Tom drove the 200 
miles round trip from Addison, Michigan to Findlay, Ohio to attend.
She and Tom met my son Logan, and his wife Amy!


Pam brought the scrapbook she had kept of our family all of these years....filled with pictures of the
boys growing up, newspaper clippings, etc. As you can see, Logan and Amy were very interested.

Logan was surprised to learn that night that he was born at 11pm.

I would often send Pam The Rozier Times, 
back in the day when first my mother, and then my sister Robin compiled it. 
See, there Pam is holding two of them!...she brought as samples.

Pam was the one who gave me Logan's baby book when he was born 36 years ago!

Tom and Pam in 1984. She was pregnant with her 3rd baby.


She had never met any of us, and then suddenly there they were together with my Logan and Amy!


There is just something unexplainable that happens to me as I view these pictures.
How can this possibly be that Pam and Tom were right there with Logan and Amy? But they were.


I think Pam and I talked about 6 times that evening,while she provided me updates.
I even got to hear the evening prayer at the reception over the phone.



The MC asked for the longest married couples.
Tom and Pam came in second having been married 43 years and 7 months!


All the long married couples were asked to give advice to the newlyweds.
Pam said that marriage is not 50/50, but 100/100. 
When Tom was asked for his advice he said he agreed with Pam. Good answer!


An evening I treasure, and I was not even there. 
Thank you Pam and Tom for driving all that way to meet some of my family...after all these years!

Just a little excerpt from a letter of hers to me, dated Jan. 26, 1991:
(This letter just shows a little of her heart, and the kind of person she is.)


That particular letter was written 24 years ago but can you catch a glimpse of who she is? 
Very concerned for others, and what she can do to help and serve. 
You would be amazed at the numerous community projects she is continually involved in. 

She's an inspiration and one of my forever friends. 
I'm thankful at least a part of my family got to meet her and her husband!


*Except for the first one, all pictures courtesy of Pam.





5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that picture of you and Bill! Austin got married?? I did not know that! You are such a good and faithful pen pal, Jill! You and I corresponded for a long time by "snail mail", similarly to your correspondence with your friend, Pam. I can attest to your regular and reliable letters and how much I enjoyed them. (Like you and Pam, you and I have never met face to face! And yet I consider you a close friend of many years!) Pam must have treasured your friendship. I know I did... and still do.
darlene

Grandma Honey said...

If I'm remembering right Darlene, you and I have been friends for 28 years! I think Tyler was about 2 when we first started writing. I think you had your PO Box number on one of your tapes I bought from Chinaberry or some other catalogue. I was in love with your music and your singing family and just had to find you! Either that, or I had your name from your tape and looked it up from there? You have definitely been a huge blessing in my life.

grandmapeg said...

What a great friend you have to drive that distance for the reception. I think that is funny that Pam meets Logan before she will meet you in person,(if that happens which I hope some day that will come about), because I met Logan in person before I met you! Logan must be the "screener". Ha, Ha. Anyway, thanks for sharing your story of your friendship with Pam. You two are blessed to have such a long friendship!

Susan Anderson said...

She sounds like a rare person and friend!

=)

Karen Mortensen said...

This is an awesome story. So glad that you have kept in touch all of these years.

Look what happened last night

  Just a little pre-graduating gathering for our DIL Amy.... Not everyday a Mom of 7 and a Grandma of 7, graduates from college. It was not ...