Photos: Wally and Karen Dobbs, Wally and Me
What a thrill to reconnect with the Dobbs Dynamic Duo. Although I wasn't certain I'd recognize either of them -- or them me -- the moment I spotted Karen (she came in the door at Denny's first) there was no doubt. And we didn't shut up for the next two hours, except to take a breath and (eventually) eat our lunches.
Confession time: I did most of the talking this time. There was just so much I needed to tell them! 40 years' worth! They grinned from ear to ear the entire time -- maybe not because they were as thrilled as I was, maybe 'cause I was just so thrilled... All I know is... what a blast. The time went way too fast and we've promised to get together again soon.
I gave them copies of three of my four books; they're going to have to buy the De book because I didn't have a pristine copy to give them. (boo hoo) But they will. I told Wally he'll have to watch for his name in two of the four book, 'cause he's there!
So many memories washed over us. Wally remembers my mom and dad... he didn't recall all I did about my school days in his class, but hey... now he does!
I got the lowdown on the past 40 years of their lives. They lived in Hawaii for two years after they left Cle Elum in 1969 and then came back to the Seattle area. Karen taught special education in Hawaii and also made dentures for a time; she has been a Christian grade school teacher most of the time, I gathered. Wally stopped teaching altogether after Cle Elum (a real loss to the profession -- we probably traumatized him into an early escape!) and has held manufacturing and security positions; he's retired now.
Our server was a scream. We told her we hadn't seen each other in 40 years, so she steered clear as much as she could... but checked back until we could settle down long enough to look at the menu and decide on meals! (That was probably 30 or 40 minutes after we sat down.) Lucky for us and for Denny's, the place wasn't packed so we didn't hold anyone else up with our two hour re-connect fest!
I'm not used to Wally having fur on his face. That took some getting used to! But his eyes and his smile are still unmistakable. He's in there somewhere, underneath that beard!
It was just great!
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