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GLORIA EASTMAN Happy 60th Birthday Wayne! The making of this magazine has caused me to look back at our nearly 28 years of marriage and memories. Wayne and I first met at a ski/retreat weekend. While there, friends invited him to join our group in Cincinnati where we played volleyball at a church gym each Tuesday evening. The games were often followed by a stop at the local Pizza Hut. Wayne started attending on a regular basis. We became friends, and eventually began dating. I loved Wayne’s fun-loving, adventurous spirit. Our dates often included long hikes in Cincinnati area parks. We brought our cameras and spent time taking nature shots along the way. We still share a love of photography, nature and the outdoors. (Wayne, remember our not-so-typical dates? Searching for geodes, Paul mapping our trips even though he was only 10! Robyn’s Cookie Monster birthday cake, sledding on giant inner tubes, and inviting a goat into the car!) We spent some of our early outings together canoeing. Wayne proudly says that we never tipped over while canoeing together. We took canoe trips with the “volleyball group,” with Paul and Robyn, with Wayne’s parents and with other friends. It was on a canoe trip that Wayne planned for just the two of us, that he asked me to marry him. We were married on November 12, 1977 at Unity Church in Cincinnati. Wayne recently reminded me of a rainbow we saw as we were driving to Florida the day after our wedding. (Did anyone else see it?) It seemed to represent a special beginning for our life together. Our first home together was an apartment in Pleasant Ridge. (Wayne, I’m sure you recall opening the windows in January! ... and losing a car and a motorcycle at the same time!!) After a couple of years we moved to a “century-old house” in Stonelick Township. (I’m remembering ... peacocks howling, iris blooms of all colors, giant tomatoes, lots of strawberries, x-rays in the basement darkroom, water trucks, and drives down Columbia Parkway. Oh, and snakes.) Soon we added our little dog, Mac, to our family. He brought his own brand of adventure to our lives. (Poised like a hood ornament on the front of our first sailboat, hanging from car windows, peering down from the back of the couch to see Baby Laura the day we brought her home, jumping over the biggest gate that you could build, taking off the instant we arrived at the cottage, always trying to get Jenna’s Cookie Monster squeaker toy, friendly to everyone he met...) We loved that little Westie, and after all these years, Wayne still carries Mac’s picture in his wallet. On November 12, 1982 we were blessed with a baby daughter, Laura. Then, on July 24, 1987 we were blessed with our second baby daughter, Jenna. (Two beautiful little girls to share life with, and who have filled it with adventures, fun, and love. One cookie, two cookie, FIVE cookie, manatees, blankies, “are we melting?”, bicycle rides, guinea pigs and hamsters, swim meets, soccer games, concerts, first dates, proms, graduations ...) Thank you, God.
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