Friends of Old

Des Moines is where both Kevin and Theresa spend there formidable years.  High school, college, where they were married and where Kiehl was born. The growth of this city was astronomical!  Construction was everywhere! Warehouses, manufacturing, office complexes were connected with greenways and bike paths!  In near by NE suburb, Altoona, a site was reserved for 2 nights at Griffs RV Park. It mainly catered to skilled workers who needed a temporary home while they were working on a local project. Such as building Facebook server farms!  



Long time friend and triathlete and now pickleball pro, Joe Robinson stopped by the rig for drinks & dinner.  Joe provided a list of several pickleball locations in the area for the next days morning activity.

Theresa selected the Valley Community Center on the west side where there was open play for $1.  This location was very popular and had about 50 folks vying for the limited court time. Kevin and Theresa put their names on the board and were able to get in 3 or 4 games.  

For lunch Kevin was invited to Sushi at Taki Japanese steakhouse with the Robinson’s regular boys club (Joe and his 2 sons Donny & Mike). For this time, Theresa was allowed to join in.  The chef even made special keno friendly sushi just for her!  It was amazing.

Later in the afternoon, the two navigated to the Beaverdale subdivision to visit with Howard and Phyllis Lemons (Theresa’s mom #2 from her youth).   The long time Southdale drive neighbors are now in nice apartment in a retirement community. In preparation for the visit, Phyllis had even contacted the nearby church to secure parking thinking the Smitanic was stopping by. She was a bit of disappointed when the Kevin & Theresa arrived in the toad.  Howard & Phyllis we’re avid RVers and would have loved to see the rig! Family pictures and travel stories were swapped and Theresa had coordinated with her sister Dorothy for a surprise FaceTime call with her lifelong friend Helen. Theresa’s moms face lite up as her never-aging friend, Phyllis greeted her! It had been years since they were able to actually see each other! Tears were observed on both ends of the line as the two ladies said their goodbyes.  It was so great to be able to visit these very very special people! Final hugs, kisses and love were shared at the door to the building. Friends are the family you choose.

After that emotional reunion, a brief break was made for a stroll at a local shopping mall before a planned dinner with one of Kevin’s Urbandale swimmers.  Jerome James, still calling Kevin ‘Coach’, introduced his wife, Myra, before being seated for dinner. Jerome’s son, Noah is following in his father’s footsteps as he spends many hours in a swimming pool doing laps and competing in local swim meets.  Kevin and Jerome reminisced about the many hours they spent in early morning swim practices during the Iowa winters. Some of these stories included making snow angels as part of the workout routine. Yes, Coach would open up the sliding glass doors so the team members could jump out of the pool and go play in the snow and then finish their assigned laps.

It was great seeing all these folks, catching up and reminiscing the joys of the past.