1979...
As before, we traveled together as a family visiting family, friends, and churches. We again traveled the west coast of North America: California, Washington, British Columbia and Alberta.
Grampie and his sisters were no longer quite children, so they saw many things differently this time.
After the summer, GGpa and I lived in Seattle for the year. Lisa went to a Christian school in Mountlake Terrace (which later became part of Cedar Park Christian).
However for Grampie and Marilyn, this was a big year of change. They went to school at Trinity Western College in BC, Canada (TWC, now TWU). Because it was not too far from us, a few times Grampie and Marilyn were able to come home to our place in Seattle.
However, after this year they did not come back with us to Brazil. They had started their lives separate from ours. At the end of the year we said a quick goodby to Grampie just before he went to work for the summer at a salmon cannery up in Alaska.
After
After the summer, Grampie and Marilyn went back to TWC.
This time GGpa and I were much farther from Grampie and Marilyn. They couldn’t come home. There was no internet for email, video and texting. Phones worked, but were very expensive. The best way to talk was with paper mail, and that was very slow. It could take more than a month to ask a question and get an answer.
That year Grampie met Nana at TWC, and they really liked each other. (Her name was Melanie Nelson, and she was from Renton where Linnea and Sheridan now live.) Nana also became good friends with Marilyn, and they were even roommates.
After this school year was a special time because Grampie and Marilyn were able to come back once to Brazil for the summer.
Grampie wrote a lot of paper letters to Nana over the summer, and they grew to like each other even more. After the summer with us, Grampie went back to America. The Dodge car that had been Nahnee's was in California. I gave it to him, and he drove up to see Nana.
Nana went back to school at TWC again, and Grampie stayed for a while with his uncle in BC so he could see her. When she decided to move back to the Seattle area to finish school, Grampie also decided to move there. Grampie went to the church in Seattle that we had attended before we last returned to Brazil. About a year later Grampie and Nana decided they wanted to get married.
After four years in Brazil, it would be time again for our home assignment. GGpa and I wrote to Grampie to talk about when the wedding would be so that we could plan it together with our travel times.
Grampie and Nana got married during that next home assignment - and that is why I can write this story for you!