I spent the entire day at home yesterday and today I decided I needed to be with people! I had several reasons for going to Juniper Meadows, but most importantly, I thought people would be happy to see me. I sold a few Chocolate Extravaganza tickets, listened to Wendy's tale of woe about the broken time clock, and helped a manager find the resident handbook on the computer! But the best moments came from my visit with Hubert Frei. His wife, Clara, died in October and he admitted to being lonesome without her. They celebrated 60 years of marriage last September. He told me about traveling to Illinois with Paul Goeckner in 1950 to visit Paul's relatives. It was then that he met Clara and they married the next year. "I remember Bertha being so happy that I planned to marry Clara, because now she'd have a friend in Idaho who was also from her hometown."
"We didn't speak English at home, but I picked it up pretty fast once I got to school. It's a shame we quit talking German." Apparently the family continued to say all their prayers in German for years. He likes to talk about his brothers who are still alive and also about his famous nephew, John Stockton. I told him about my visit with his niece, Maxine Frei Hoene, on New Year's Day and he remembered that her first husband, Tom Hoene, died several years ago. Hubert was one of 12 children and each of his siblings had large families. My goodness he probably has 80 nieces and nephews so I was blown away that he remembered such detail.
When I got ready to leave he held my hand and told me he loved me! I never hear those beautiful words from a man, so I left feeling grateful and oh so happy about my visit!
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