The First 50 Years

The first day of college, I met a guy named Norm
A friendship developed, I'd even call it warm
He made me laugh, he made me smile
I found him dates...laughing all the while

I dated others as our bond still grew
As time passed...I saw Norm anew
We sat over coffee...we talked and we talked
Off to the ocean...we laughed and we walked

Wow! My best friend...love was here to stay
With 3 months to plan, we set a wedding date
A furnished apartment...a place of our own
Up the 4 floor staircase our feet had flown

The years passed and 3 kids brought us joy
The first born, as planned, was a precious boy
Then came another, a pink bundle so sweet
And finally a little boy looking to compete

At times we could have called it quits
At times life was way worse than the pits
Once again talking pulled us safely through
Asking for help...our marriage to renew

A new life is here for my best friend and me
We laugh everyday and there's so much to see
Twin fawns in summer and chipmunks making love
Or looking up at bedtime to the stars up above

Our cabin is special when there's just us two
But I also love it when we have a large crew
Laughter rolls around and spills out the door
Come see us soon and we'll create some more

                                                 - Barbara Jack -

​The First 50 Years Backstory:

The First Fifty Years was written by me as we were getting ready for our 50th wedding anniversary. We had sold our home in western Washington, bought a small place in Casa Grande and moved to the cabin where we would live our summers for the next 6 years. No one had ever stayed there for a full 4 months a year and it took some extra work. We had a tough shed built and placed behind the cabin, so now we had a place to put our washer and dryer from our last house. Next we had a satelite dish put up so we could have TV. We put things in storage to take down to Arizona in the fall. It all came together and on August 31 our three grown children their families along with a wonderful friend, Pam Fairbanks, planned and invited tons of people to the party. It was perfect and we served breakfast at the cabin the next morning over several hours and about 50 managed to get back up to the lake for that.

This 50 years started when we met at the University of Puget Sound where we met and fell in love. My parents came to the cabin for a weekend and their first time to meet Norm's family. We got engaged in May and then started planning an August wedding so it would not interfere with school starting. The wedding was on August 31, 1957. We spent 2 nights in Victoria at the Empress Hotel for our honeymoon but we were doing this on a low budget and after two nights at the Empress we were broke. The funny

Barbara reminisces about the love of her life

thing was that our wonderful room on the front of the building overlooking the harbor only cost us $20 a night. Then we went to the cabin for two weeks so our real honeymoon was in the screened sleeping porch of the cabin. A donkey from the campfire camp was lonesome for the girls so every morning when we woke up she would be on the porch looking in the screen door, waiting for us to come out and walk with her. She had been leading hikes for the entire summer.

Norm had never known a day in his life that the cabin was not a part of his life. After his father died, his mom wanted to sell it. Of the three brothers, Norm was the only one who wanted to spend any money on it, so we used the money from my first job after the kids were born to pay the payments. Our three children loved the cabin as much as we did. You will see pictures of it in several parts of the family section of this celebration of a life well lived.

As I write this we are approaching our 58th year together. We moved back to Seattle 2 1/2 years ago and now live in an apartment with very little room. Seattle housing is on fire and it is hard to find affordable space. We came back after finding out that my health had taken a terrible turn. My doctor in Arizona gave me a strong drug when he thought I might have valley fever. This was 8 years ago! I had a bad reaction to the medication and was too sick to even realize it. It destroyed most of my liver in a matter of days. We came home to be near the University of Washington doctors. They can't say how long I have, but there is nothing that can be done for the liver. So they treat me to help me fight the other side effects. I have a team of wonderful doctors taking care of me. They buy me time with outstanding care.

The most wonderful medicine I have is that man, Norm, my lifetime love. He does so much for me, but if I was to say his greatest gift....it is the fact that he makes me laugh, feel loved and still feel sexy. In the building where we live, we are called the lovebirds. As we head down the hall to the elevator, he still reaches over to pinch my butt and while we wait at the door, he often peaks down my front to be sure my boobs are still intact. He has always been a boob man. He keeps me together and is with me at every appointment. When we had a chocolate lab he loved and she was getting old, Norm was so patient, loving and attentive to her. I used to tease him and say,"When I am old and need help all I wish for is that you treat me the way you treat and love Coco"! Last year I told him I know what I said about treating me like he treated Coco and I just wanted him to know that he has surpassed that goal. We have been through wonderful times and some tough ones, and if I had a chance to give young wives my advice for a happy life I would say, "It doesn't have anything to do with how much money you have...we have not done well with the money we both made.....It is not giving up on each other." I always knew there was something special about our relationship and we were each willing to fight for that. It seems today some people give up too soon and never know what they missed. I wouldn't miss this time of my life for anything. Everyday is a good day at the Jack house.

Our whole family was devastated to lose our youngest boy Jim in an avalanche, and as sad as that still is, we have a whole family of new people around the world who have folded us into a blanket of love. You will see more about Jim in this section, but let me say, he lived his life his way doing what he loved and doing it with grace. Jim's memory makes me both smile and cry. Jay and his family are well and happy and live 7 miles from us, Jodi and her family live a couple hours away, but we see them often, too.

We will find a way to celebrate our 58th on August 31 and even though we don't move as fast as we once did, we will spend some quiet time at the cabin as often as possible. We already have forest fires burning on this side of the pass we go over to get to the cabin and another one burning last week to the

east of it.  Last year, there were fires close enough that, for a time, we could not drive in to the lake. We had a work party 2 weeks ago to create more defensible space around our place. Jim used to do that for his summer business and we never had to worry about it getting done. This time some of his friends and our family all worked. I made the clam chowder.

LIFE IS GOOD!