Our first apartment was in a house owned by Lillian. Lillian had a boyfriend named Bill who spent most of his time at Lillian's house. This was also where they ran their pre-cast business.
On a whim, we pulled into the parking lot, I knocked on Lillian's door, and she immediately recognized me. It was an awesome "homecoming"! We only stayed a few minutes but were able to introduce Lillian to our children, hear how she was doing, fill her in on our lives, etc. Unfortunately, Bill had developed dementia and was in a nursing home. That was really sad to hear as they had plans to move to Florida at some point and were such a terrific couple. I think they were both first generation immigrants, Lillian from France and Bill from Italy.
Fast forward Christmas 2013. I sent Lillian our annual Christmas card. Out of the blue, I received the nicest voice-mail from Lillian. She was so excited to see a picture of the kids and it was great to hear her French accent! I have saved that voice-mail and whenever I check my messages, I get to hear it again and again. It puts a smile on my face every time.
Our apartment was in the back of the house, so we'd see Bill & Lillian all of the time as we came and went walking past their business in the garage and such.
Over time, we got to know each other really well. They were pretty much our only friends in the Albany area other than coworkers, because we knew we weren't going to be there long and weren't interested in "planting roots." They gave us a bureau for our wedding which we still use & enjoy today.
We ended up living there for about three years. After moving from that apartment to Richmond, we continued to keep in touch via Christmas cards, but that's about it.
A few years ago we were travelling from the Pierce's family in northern NY to visit friends in the Hudson Valley. We drove through Albany and were going to drive right past the apartment.
On a whim, we pulled into the parking lot, I knocked on Lillian's door, and she immediately recognized me. It was an awesome "homecoming"! We only stayed a few minutes but were able to introduce Lillian to our children, hear how she was doing, fill her in on our lives, etc. Unfortunately, Bill had developed dementia and was in a nursing home. That was really sad to hear as they had plans to move to Florida at some point and were such a terrific couple. I think they were both first generation immigrants, Lillian from France and Bill from Italy.
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| Road weary but full of smiles! |
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| Our apartment was around back. |
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| Former home of Turnpike Precast. |
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