Steve and Sue Robinson

Three or four years ago I came across an announcement about a new support group for parents of special needs kids and called the first person on the contact list. Her name was Sue Robinson; she told me she had recently retired from the school district as a school psychologist and had joined with other women from her church to form this group. She answered all my questions and we chatted far afield for about 45 minutes. Then one of us mentioned Seattle Pacific University. “Oh, did you go there?” “Yes, back while it was still a college!” “So did I. When were you there?” “I was a transfer student in 1969. I lived in the dorm for a year and then got married,” said Sue. “That's when I was there! I lived in Marston that year. How about you?” You guessed it – Sue and I were on the same floor!

The more we talked the more we remembered. Then she said, “I think you attended my wedding!” I was a bit hazy about that detail, but later she looked at her guest book and found my name.

That was the summer of 1970. After summer jobs ended, four of us piled into a VW bug and set off for a week. One of our stops was Steve and Susie’s wedding in Vista, California.

Just a couple of weeks ago I found a small Disneyland bag with more evidence that I had attended their wedding – a tiny dove, a small gold paper bell, and a barely recognizable frosting flower, my souvenirs from their wedding cake! (What was I thinking??)

Married now almost 40 years, Steve and Sue have always been helpers. Their working years were dedicated to helping through education and law enforcement. They also like adventure. Two years ago they were set to take a trip around the US in their motor home, but went to California instead, where they could help Sue’s mom through a transition period of her life. They contacted a Christian camp not far from her mom’s and learned that they could park their trailer on the grounds and volunteer their time working with another group of people in transition – men and women in a Christian drug and alcohol rehab, where they've been for the past two years. At last they'll take that cross-country trip in March.

They don't fool me when they say the'll be home in June, though. I suspect that along the way they will find some very worthy project to pour their lives into and will roll up their sleeves and volunteer for a time. I may have to settle for an occasional e-mail from a very dear friend who keeps coming popping up in my life.