Hola Nancy!

Last year we were thrilled to learn that the daughter of dear friends would be coming to Barcelona for a semester abroad. Time flew by and she is now in Barcelona! Her parents and brother traveled with her to Spain over the holidays. They saw the sites and got her settled into her home away from home for the next few months. Fortunately, we were able to overlap with them for one night and catch up. It was fun to reminisce about the days when our children were little and we were faced with all of the parenting challenges for toddlers. We also commiserated about how the challenges change, but the devotion to parenting our children does not.

Nancy's family lived in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle in 1999. Bucky and I were fortunate enough to buy a lovely yellow house right next door. We were already friends, but living next door to each other with children of the same age made our bond stronger than ever. We put a gate in the fence between our houses so we could all walk back and forth more easily. I hate to admit it, but sometimes the grownups had dinner together at one house while the kids slept and one of us listened to the baby monitor in case we had to go next door. The kids played together on the swingset in our backyard or ran around at Nancy's house with their dog, Ivey. It was an idyllic time.

After a couple of years, we moved to Stockhom and eventually came back to Seattle and lived in the same neighborhood, but no longer next door. We all reconnected and our friendships continued. The Wall family left Seattle in 2004 to live near family on the East Coast. Since that time, we have had the pleasure of spending some pretty spectacular times with Nancy's family including stays at beach houses on Sullivan's Island, a week on Fishers Island and they even come to visit us in Eygalieres, France, when we lived there! So, we were thrilled to add connecting in Barcelona to our list.

I look forward to seeing as much of Nancy as I can in the next few months. She is busy with school, activities and friends, but she knows she is always welcome here. I have deemed myself her mom in Barcelona and I plan on taking my job very seriously although I doubt she will need me! She is smart and strong and quite an amazing young woman who will always be a cute little three year old with a bowl cut to me!

We are so happy!

A welcome note for Nancy!

Selfie with Nancy and Bucky. Fun!!