Breakfast With Denise…And Family We Never Met!

Before we left on Meemaw’s Road Trip Adventure…I got an unexpected message from our niece, Denise.  She lives with her family about five hours from McMinnville, and she asked if they could meet us for breakfast during our Oregon visit. We were absolutely elated!!! It’s been YEARS since we’ve set eyes on Denise. In fact, we’ve only seen her once since she was a child! And we’ve never met her husband and their two children, so we were literally counting the minutes until this meeting could take place.

We agreed to meet on Sunday morning for breakfast, and our friend Rick recommended the Wild Wood Cafe. 

It’s an eclectic little place with good food. But we’re glad we arrived early that Sunday morning because the place was PACKED by the time we finished eating! And this was one time when eating wasn’t the most important part of that restaurant visit…

Our breakfast was good…and plentiful…

And even slightly healthy…

And the “half order” of biscuits and gravy was plenty!

But the REAL reason for that Sunday breakfast was to reconnect with Denise and to meet her precious family. So we hurried through that breakfast and headed to what I called DESSERT…A sit-down visit in “our” Secret Garden at our cottage.

A visit with FAMILY!!!

Hubby Scott…and Dear, Sweet Denise…

And their wonderful kids…Ben and Carmen!

When families live two thousand miles apart, it’s tough to stay connected…and the years have taken all of us in busy paths that haven’t crossed…until now.

So THIS is how I remember Denise…at our wedding…with her big brother Darris. I swear they were the cutest flower girl and ring bearer ever!

And as we sat at the picnic table in the beautiful garden, I couldn’t help but notice Denise’s  smile… 

 I knew I had seen it before…so long ago…on a special day…

And now…she’s a MOM! It’s hard to imagine where all those years have gone.

Carmen and Ben are wonderful kids…and a reflection of their parents. And that’s a very, very good thing. Carmen was preparing for that all-important first day of the new school year, and Ben was quick to tell me he also loves to cook! (Ahh…another generation of “Foodies” has been born!)

So after our happy visit in the garden, Denise and Scott asked if we would like to take a drive out into the country to see Scott’s parent’s farm. And since we hated to see our visit come to an end we agreed.

And little did we know what beauty was about to unfold before us…