Jo's Big Birthday Blog Hop!! (So Sorry I'm Late!)

Starting September 17 U.K. time, everyone that signed up to be part of Jo's Big Birthday Blog Hop was supposed to have a post up! So everyone could enjoy it. I sincerely apologize to all of you and especially Jo that I am so ridiculously late getting this post up. Best laid plans, yadda yadda.. my sincere apologies!

Jo gave me the year of 1991 and her story goes like this:

1991 - Jo was 25.  Concert going continues to dominate Jo's life as her career continues on a steady upward trajectory.  Highlights of this year were the long awaited Guns 'n' Roses concerts at Wembley Stadium and a trip to Paris to see Alice Cooper one day and the Scorpions the next night.  While wandering around the streets of Paris soaking up the atmosphere Jo's friend spotted a familiar figure - "that guy looks just like Klaus Meine from the Scorpions".  It was!  He was quite taken aback to have four English rock fans stop to say Hello but very graciously posed for photos and then they let him continue shopping in peace.

The following year Jo was lucky enough to get tickets to the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium.  Her friend lived only a few miles from Wembley and as soon as the show was announced she jumped in her car and drove straight to the box office (this was pre-internet days remember!).  Another mind-blowing and unforgettable concert.

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My life in 1991 was a little bit different. I was still in high school and 1991 was the year I met Kory, who was to become my best friend for the rest of high school and still continues to be a great friend. She lives in the UK now, although her family and mine mostly still live near the small town in Ontario where we grew up. We were in different towns, but went to the same high school. 

I met Kory when we were seated next to each other in grade 10 science class. I will never forget how well she could dissect our frog. It was like an instruction manual. Kory and I shared a love of The Princess Bride that continues through today of course, because how could it not? And I think I currently own 2 copies of the movie, having given my 3rd copy to my brother, who didn't have one. They're all different editions, so it's normal. :)

We also bonded over Pirates of Penzance, which no one else seemed to have heard of, and one memorable night when a grade 11 biology project was due, at 3am we decided we would test our teacher and see if she actually read our project. In the middle of the essay we wrote "Hello, my name is Joe, I have a wife and a job and family". It was never marked out... it was never read. We got a B+ I think? That night we also decided that instead of getting 2 hours of sleep before school we'd watch the Princess Bride again. :D

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The next part of Jo's Blog Hop is to describe what happened to me at 25 years old. I had yet to graduate from optometry school, and I had a major life event. My Grandpa, who all of the grandchildren were pretty close to, became very ill and eventually died that year. This was the first major loss I had experienced. Other distant relatives that I didn't see often had passed over the years, but this was the first person that I saw on a weekly or more basis that I would not see again. 

I also started clinic rotations that year and started seeing patients. If you can imagine, an exam by an optometry student takes about 2 hours. By the end of the semester it was maybe closer to 90 minutes, but still, a long time. There are a few patients I remember from then, it was an excellent learning experience. 

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Lastly, we're to post some stitching Jo might like. I don't believe I've posted this on my blog before, and Jo, I hope you like it, and again, I am so sorry to be late. 

12 Days of Christmas table runner - stitched for Xmas 2012 and given to my parents:

Close-ups

 

 

 

 

And the whole thing:

 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch