Day 89 Pt. 2

8/11/22

Lilly and Ranger hosted some of their dearest friends today (and so many of mine) at the beautiful Ticknor Hill in Anoka! We had books for sale, treats for the guest's best friends, refreshments, harmonica music from our dear 99-year-old musician, teddy bear adoptions and donations to St. Jude's and Old Barkers Farm Rescue for Senior Dogs. We were also joined by a contingent from QCTV who filmed throughout the party. What a day!

Lilly and Ranger greeted, posed for pictures and simply made people happy. They have touched so many lives with their Therapy Work and many of those friends were there to honor them. It was fun to see them recognize guests from Walker Senior Residence as both pups wagged their tails and seemed to smile.

Mac and I greeted guests and visited with them (often too briefly) as they arrived on this gorgeous day. Since I knew almost everyone who attended, I marveled at the serendipity of connections between some of the guests. People would stop another person and one could hear such comments and questions as:

"Remember me?"
"We went to school together!"
"You taught at my school years ago!"
"Aren't you related to..."
"I think you might be a distant relative!"

More than once I said, "If you live in Anoka long enough, you either know or are related to most everyone you meet. You just have to visit long enough and a connection will finally surface!"

Son-in-law Jon even reconnected with his 3rd grade teacher which was a surprise to everyone there! I saw a number of parents from my teaching years, past students and their children (I am certainly getting older!), educators from years past and we all loved every hug!

When it was time to end the festivities, it was hard to say good-bye to those still sipping lemonade on the front porch. What a beautiful day full of amazing people and two incredible dogs.