Joyce and Judy

My Mom was the oldest of three sisters. Joyce and Judy are the oldest and youngest of Mom’s middle sister, Betty. Joyce is 24 days older than I am which she made the most of when we were kids and will again when we are very old. We were good friends as kids and stayed that way all our lives. Judy was the smart-mouthed trouble-maker little sister. When she was young, she had a friend down the block just like her. The two moms would race to get their kid out the door first to go play at the other house. She is still full of life and fun.

Judy has done some traveling but Joyce never. They came to Ukraine to visit Tanya and me. Talk about feeling loved! That’s a pretty big adventure and not inexpensive to come all this way. Joyce met Tanya last Christmas when we were home but Judy had not and was looking forward to it. We had a great itinerary planned, given we only had nine days plane-in to plane-out.

Of course, fall rains started early. Not a drop for two months and the two days we were in Kyiv, it poured steady (and the next two days as well). We still visited the Pechersk Lavra Monastery and St Sofia’s Cathedral as well as walked the length of Andreivski Uzviz, though the rain had closed 90% of the craft and souvenir stalls.

We didn’t have time to go to Crimea which we would early have loved but instead we made a day trip from our place to Sofivka Park in Uman. The rest of the time we ate Tanya’s great home-cooking, drank coffee and visited up a storm. Catching up on family, getting to know each other again, reviewing all the events of our lives since Joyce and I celebrated our 50th birthdays together.

Our last evening together, we all dressed up and went out to dinner, Judy’s treat, so in a way, it was Joyce’s and my 61st birthday supper.

They arrived home safely and have forgiven us for the 6 hour wait at Boryspil (Kyiv) airport. Joyce was already talking about the next trip when they left so that was a good sign. Thanks so much for coming all this way to see us!! We love you.