Kate and Corinne.
There were a lot of things that made Kate’s job as a psychiatric social worker a hard one, but her coworkers kept her going. Corinne was one of Kate’s favorites. For several years, they shared a small office, and the only complaint I ever heard was that Corinne’s explosive sneezes made Kate jump out of her skin. But all the times that Corinne wasn’t sneezing, Kate was grateful for her companionship. They supported each other through some hard work transitions, and their friendship expanded outside the work arena and included me as well.
Corinne has been following our travels through the blog and knew we were in Florida for the winter. When she made plans to visit family in Melbourne, she contacted us to see if there was any way to get together. As it turned out, Melbourne was on the way to our next destination. We were able to get into nearby Sebastian Inlet State Park for a couple of nights, and Corinne suggested we come a day early and park in her sister-in-law’s driveway.
Beach and dock.
Corinne’s sister-in-law, Kathy, and her husband, Tom, have a beautiful house on the Indian River, south of Melbourne and just a couple blocks from the Atlantic. The house is on a huge lot, with a walkway through wetlands to a sandy river beach with a screened room, fire pit, kayaks, and a long dock with a motorboat. The driveway was indeed large enough for us to squeeze in Bessie, although getting to it was tricky. We had to inch our way around a huge work truck parked in the road, and even though the truck’s driver was cavalierly waving us through, insisting we had plenty of room, we came within a half inch of scraping the entire left side of the RV.
Lesson Learned: Men acting with authority aren’t always right. When it comes to protecting your very expensive investment, don’t leave it to a stranger.
We weren’t sure about crashing Corinne’s family reunion, but Kathy and Tom were more than welcoming. Corinne’s sister, Julie, and her husband, Eric, were also visiting from New York, and everybody seemed genuinely happy to include us.
Rain Fishing
The only thing I caught was Eric’s line.
We were only there 24 hours, and I believe it rained during 20 of them. But that didn’t stop the whole gang from trooping down to the beach and to go surf fishing. Corinne, Kate, and I walked down with Bailey and met the others. By the time we got there, the misty rain had turned into a drenching one. But it was warm, and Kathy and Eric were determined to catch some pompono, which is prized for its taste. Eric did catch one, and the excitement of that kept us all going a little longer. But eventually we all hightailed it home to get dry.
We didn’t eat the pompono for dinner. Eric and Tom had already prepared quite a feast for all of us. (I love it when I see the men in a family not only cooking, but cleaning up!) Kathy did cook the pompono for breakfast the next morning, before Eric and Julie left to drive back to New York. And it was reported to be the best fish Eric had ever eaten.
Rain Hiking
Hiking through a wet jungle.
It rained all through the night and the next morning, but once again, Corinne and Kathy were up for further soggy adventures. We walked, with Bailey and Kathy’s three little mop dogs, through the neighborhood to a nearby wildlife preserve. The preserve had miles of trails through wetlands and along the Indian River, and we tromped around till we were wet through to the skin. The only good thing about the weather is that it kept the alligators hiding warm under the mud.
Rain or not, this reunion was an especially sweet one for Kate. We’ve connected with so many family members and friends of mine on this trip, and friends of ours, but this is the first friend of Kate’s that we’ve met up with. She was so happy to be able to sit down with Corinne and hear about life on the Johnson Unit since she’s been gone, catch up on the latest changes, reconnect, and just talk freely into the night.
Thank you, Tom and Kathy, for sharing your home with us. And thank all of you for letting us horn in on your precious family time with your sister. We completely enjoyed ourselves.