Jim and I met Mary way back in 1989.
Jim and I, along with my brother Gary, went on our first trip to Cancun. We got to the airport in Detroit, and saw these two people laying up on the planters outside the doors of the terminal, obviously tired, and we found out later, very hung-over! The first thing I noticed about the girl was that she was wearing a blue shirt, RayBan's and a straw cowboy hat. We went inside the terminal and joined the 200+ people going to Cancun. This was about 6am, and we all wanted coffee! The coffee shop's gate was closed, but we could smell the coffee and could see the workers in there taking their sweet time opening up. I started shaking the gate and yelling at them to open up because we all wanted something before we got on the plane! The girl I saw outside with the cowboy hat on, came up and starting backing me up, screaming "Yea! Open up! We want COFFEE!" We had our first laugh right there at the coffee shop. When we arrived in Mexico, we got on the bus to our hotel, and sure enough, here comes that couple we saw at the airport. This time we started yelling for Cervasa Corona! Por Favor!
Our bus stopped several times, and it became obvious that we were staying at the same hotel. We introduced ourselves. Mary Lapoint and Dan Baker, meet Scott Reed, Jim Kammerer and Gary Burton. Now we knew that they were not a couple, but were old friends and that Mary was trying to recover from her fathers recent passing. We got checked in and agreed that after we took a nap, we would join up to get something to eat. We got back together and got something to eat, and then drank lots of beer and laughed our heads off. When we finally called it a night, I pulled out a great big bag of Motrin(you needed an Rx back then) and told them to call me if they needed relief the next day. Mary and Dan looked at each other, and I felt like an idiot... I thought "How dumb of me! I just met them and they probably think I am a drug dealer!" Well, the phone rang first thing the next day, and a groggy, scratchy voice whispered "I need one of those Motrin!" It was Mare, and we both laughed.
As the week flew by, we began to realize that we were quickly falling in love as friends. We started dreading the end of the vacation, and measuring each moment together as something to hang on to forever. The thought of not being together brought tears to our eyes, and we actually cried in each others arms. Linda Ronstadt had a song out called "Adios", and it became an anthem each time we visited Cancun, trying to recapture the magical days of our blossoming friendship. I still think of the tune and words of the song and can feel the sand beneath my feet.
Mary and I always got up in the morning before anyone else. We made it our daily routine to walk the shoreline of Cancun and watch the sun come up. We might step into a neighboring hotel and get some coffee or water. Sometimes we would sit and rub sand on our feet to exfoliate the winter callouses off. We would laugh and hold hands was we tried to keep from killing ourselves on the coral reef. Mary always collected a small amount of sand and broken shell to bring home to remind her of our trip.
When the week ended, we were miserable. We cried goodbye at the airport, and promised to see each other again. Jim and I got to our house and were complete wrecks. We went out, but couldn't even have fun. We were completely lost without our Mare. The next day, we called Mary and she said her and Dan were just as sad.... She even said they went out to and couldn't even DANCE! She said she was so sad that she didn't have rhythm! And we laughed.
Jim and I made our way for the first of hundreds of visits to Toledo about two weeks later. That first visit really eased our minds, and assured us that our friendship was not just in Cancun, but in our hearts as well.
And our friendship continued through the years as we became so much more than friends. We became a part of each others families.
We are "family".
