Old Friends, Lost for awhile, but now found!

A year after John and I got married we moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin. We moved there that summer of 1977 because John had gotten his first job there. Neither of us had ever been to Elkhorn before and we were excited to start this new journey together. We found an eight family apartment to rent and we took off without looking back.
John would be working at his new job, but I had given up my teaching job and was looking forward to cooking, cleaning, and hopefully, starting a family. I was also hoping to meet some new friends to hang out with in this new "life." Little did I know what wonderful friends awaited us in Patti and Tom Kovach.
They also lived in that apartment building in the upper unit right by ours. I remember the day I looked at Patti and just knew she and I were going to be fast friends. Here is what clued me in.
A young mom, named Sandy, mom to April May Shauer (yep, that was her real name) and Daniel hosted a get together for the ladies who lived in the apartment. By young mom, I mean she had her kids at 17. I noticed that all the other women there had children and they were all young. The only childless ones were Patti (who I did not know yet) and myself. As Patti checked out the situation, she said, "I cannot imagine having a baby when you are so young!" Bingo, I liked the way she thought, I liked her, I had a new friend. This is Patti and Tom as I remember them when we first met. We were decorating Christmas cookies at our kitchen cable table. I remember Tom decorated a very intricate Santa cookie. He was so proud of that cookie, but I heard it broke on the way home to Ohio. I am holding a little girl named Emily Watson, daughter of 17 year old Scott and 17 year old Betsy. Patti and I watched Emily quite often. Patti and Tom taught us how to play Spades, we cut down $5.00 Christmas trees together, and went out to dinner together. I remember how Patti and I would hide out in her apartment to have some privacy from Sandy. One day she knocked on Patti's door to show us how white her dishtowel was because she used bleach, yeah, whatever. Patti and I laughed so hard about that one!

Patti and Tom were a big, important part of our lives in Elkhorn. We knew they were only temporary residents of Elkhorn since they were only there while Tom went to Band Instrument Repair school and when he finished they would head back to Elyria, Ohio. I tried not to think about how much I would miss her when she left.

We eventually bought a new home and left the apartment but we were still in Elkhorn, still very close to Patti and Tom. Courtney was born and Patti and Tom became like an Aunt and Uncle to her. Somewhere there after, they moved back to Elyria with promises of letters, phone calls, and visits. We were really good at keeping in touch at first.

Our first visit to Elyria was when Alissa was 8 months old and their Katie was three months old. Our little family of four actually flew to Cleveland for this visit. I don't remember much about it, but I know we had a great time.

We took Courtney who was two to a park to play. Patti and I visited and held out babies. What a nice peaceful time. I think this was the trip that we took Courtney to Lake Erie, too. I recall that we went with a little boy named Brian who may have been related to Tom. (Correct me, Patti, if I am wrong)

The next time we traveled to Ohio we went by car. Alissa and Katie were two and Courtney must have been four. Here you see Katie and Alissa swinging together. This may have been the trip when Alissa was in her biting stage and I watched her like a hawk so she would not bite Katie during playtime. I also remember that Patti and I loved drinking soda to me, pop to Patti with lots of ice. I wish I could remember more details about these visits, but I know they were very special.

Here Alissa, Katie, and Courtney are sitting outside of the Kovach house. I also think we took the girls bikes along on this trip so they could ride with Katie. I also think that we may have toured Patti's mom's new house with a pool, but it could have been someone else's house. (Again, Patti, help me out here) And I almost forgot, they had another baby by this time, Audrey was just a baby at this visit.

I think Patti, Tom, Katie, and Audrey made a visit to Watertown sometime in the next few years. I could not find the pictures from that visit, but I know we went to Elkhorn one day and we also went to the Milwaukee Museum.

Our next visit was at a motel somewhere outside of Chicago. We visited the Aquarium and maybe the Planetarium. Here was Tom taking a picture of us while John was taking a picture of them. It was always something silly like that with them.

Here we are ready to leave for somewhere from our motel. I remember Patti saying, "Don't let my mom see this picture, she will wonder why my kids weren't wearing coats and yours were." Isn't it funny what the mind remembers?

Here are the girls at the motel. I know we had lots of fun in the pool. Both Tom and John played the same silly way in the pool with their girls.

Here are Patti and I. All I have to say is, I think I got better as I got older. This look was not my best. I am guessing Patti looks the same as always.

The next time we visited Patti and Tom in Ohio was our last time to visit there. We had vacationed in Michigan and on our way home we stopped in Ohio. Okay, that is not exactly on the way home, but it was a part of our trip. I remember we went to Sea World and had a great time. I also think this may have been the time we played in a pool at your mom's or another relative's. I seem to recall some Marco Polo going on.

The last visit with Patti and Tom was in a little town in Indiana, I think it was Plymouth. The girls were growing up. Courtney was a Freshman in High School, I think, and it appears she may have been a bit disconnected from the other girls, although I really don't remember that. I do remember we couldn't figure out if we were in the central or eastern time zone and the people at the motel couldn't help us either. I also remember someone needing a plunger, but can't remember who.

Little did we know, that this would be the last time we would see one another. Life got busy, our girls were involved in all those activities that happen in High School and except for a phone call or two, we lost touch. We lost our good friends, but only for awhile because we found one another again!

It seems Patti and I were both looking for one another online. Finally, Patti found me, contacted me, and here we are! I am looking forward to moving on with our friendship. It feels so good to me. I look so forward to that day when we can see each other again.

Welcome back, Patti and Tom. We love you guys and have missed you so much.