Ashley and Gillian (from Gillian’s  FB page)

Gillian Huggins and her fiancé, Ashley, came calling yesterday.  I was so very pleased!  I hadn’t seen Gillian since 2012 at her grandfather Chuck’s funeral in Seattle and, before that, only a half dozen times at most.  I remember seeing her playing soccer at Dorothy and Chuck’s place when they lived here ‘at the beach,’ I remember taking her and her sister, Sydney, to see “The Secret Garden” at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle when they were in elementary school, and I remember visiting with her oh-so-briefly at her parents’ home when she was still in high school.

But, I can’t say we’ve ever really known each other.  I “met” her through my best friend (and who was, you might also remember, my maid of honor) Gordon Schoewe.  Sort of.  So… pay attention here:

Gordon in the Bath

1. Chuck Huggins (Gillian’s grandfather) was six years older than Gordon and, when they were both living in Castle Rock, Chuck was Gordon’s babysitter.
2. Chuck met and married Dorothy Eaton and they had three children, two girls and a boy named Ky,
3. In the seventies, Chuck and Dorothy retired to the beach – our beach – because Gordon and Roy were here and there had been a life-long connection. (Dorothy and Chuck were part of our Picnic Group until the aughts when they moved back to Seattle.)
4. In the eighties, Ky married Kimberly Hanson and they had two daughters, Gillian and Sydney.
5. When Gillian’s sister, Sydney, was born, Grandma Dorothy called me and suggested (because of the name) that I become Sydney’s “Honorary Godmother,” a role which I loved but had no idea how to play.
   

   Dorothy on the left

6. Meanwhile, Dorothy had been instrumental in my courtship with Nyel… but that’s another story entirely.

I felt so honored that Gillian made time to visit.  We did some – no, make that a lot of –   catching up and a bit of reminiscing.  And I was inordinately pleased to learn that she and Ashley are staying at The Adrift.  And that they had heard about it from two different friends in Seattle both of whom had also praised its restaurant, the Pickled Fish, as a great music venue and with food to die for.

“In Seattle, it’s considered one of the great ‘niche’ places,” they said.  Good to know!