Our Life
Well-Lived
a Memoir
Also by Thomas Crochetiere
BIOGRAPHY
Remembering my Miss Vicki
Our Life
Well-Lived
a Memoir
by Thomas Crochetiere
Copyright © 2012 by Thomas Crochetiere
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0699-2
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
For our son Jason;
your mother and I are so
proud of you!
“Do not be afraid to be yourself
as fear can be just another adventure”
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to:
Jeannie Fitzsimmons for her assistance in editing this book.
Photos provided by:
Thomas Crochetiere, Ben Costello, Barbara Wilford, Linda Wilford, Lori Ziller, April Wilford, Bonnie Miller, Marcia Miller, Krystal Crews and Courtney Vaughn of the Hi-Desert Star Newspaper.
Contributing stories from:
| Kevin Wilford | Roberta Nokielski |
| Kim Jennings | Barbara Crochetiere |
| BreeAnn Sock | Vicki Roark |
| Rosalie Wilford | Darryl Whitley |
| Debbie Fajnor | Ben Costello |
| Bonnie Miller | Jennifer Wilford-Ingalls |
| Mary Knuth | Molly Allen |
| Karen Moran | Pearl Kittleson |
| Lori Ziller | Annie Rowell |
Our Life Well-Lived
An Introduction to Us
This book contains the memoirs of Thomas Crochetiere and the amazing journey and adventures he took with his wife Vicki. Their lives spanned 27 wonderful years together. They have one son (Jason), two grandchildren (Delilah and Zane) and three step-grandchildren (Timmy, Aloni and Lincoln). This is their story, a story of love.
Vicki and Tom in one of their last photos together
Vicki’s and my life was not a typical story of a married couple as we shared a unique life together. Although we were very close and did nearly everything together, we did have separate and completely different interests from each other. My personality is comparable to a Type A and Vicki’s comparable to a Type B. Knowing that opposites usually attract to each other, I liked to say that together, Vicki and I had a Type AB+ personality. The A for me, the B for Vicki and the + for our positive outlook on life.
From the beginning of our marriage, we had the hobby of collecting states. We did not start out with this goal in mind but we eventually realized it as we collected more and more states through our travels. Together, we drove to 49 of the 50 states and visited Hawaii both by plane and by cruise ship. We enjoyed the outdoors and visited several of our National Parks and Monuments. We loved to camp, starting off in tents, moving up to a cab-over camper and then to a motorhome.
We owned ATV’s (all-terrain vehicles) and loved to explore the desert where we lived and the nearby forest. We took our ATV’s to the beach and to the sand dunes. We often went to off-road events, sometimes traveling long distances to participate. We owned a pleasure boat, explored rivers, vast lakes, and even took it out into the Pacific Ocean once.
We enjoyed camping and traveling with friends and family. We camped with various groups and always enjoyed ourselves. We enjoyed taking our motorhome out often and usually “dry camped”. We rarely went to existing campgrounds and loved to find a remote location out in the desert or up in the forest. Our motorhome was fully self-contained and we did not need hook-ups to survive. On average, we went camping 14-weekends each year and 21-times during our last year together. We were very active and usually had something to do.
During our many travels, we had some extraordinary experiences. Our adventures were far from boring and we often left with stories to share. We were fortunate to have taken so many photos of our trips to help us remember these wonderful times together.
As we were beginning the second phase of our life together, we started to take more cruises and stayed in more hotels in addition to our camping. However, this stopped short as our journey together came to an abrupt end. At the early age of 45, I lost my Miss Vicki to breast cancer.
Although Vicki’s life ended, she made sure I knew I still had a long life yet to live. It was important to her that I was happy. She encouraged me to continue living my life and she encouraged me to find someone special to share my life with.
Vicki was an amazing woman and I was fortunate to have shared so many wonderful memories with her. She had a unique way of looking at each of life’s experiences and she always found ways to enjoy everything she did.
The sharing of our history gives you an in-depth look of all we have done together. It also reminds you that “Life is a journey full of great adventures. You can guide your journey in any path you so choose. It only takes a little imagination and luck to take you where you want to go. Just be yourself”.
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Our journey together began when I first met Vicki on December 31, 1983. It was at a New Year’s Eve Party given by Ben, a mutual friend, where I first laid eyes on her. I was immediately attracted to Vicki and spent the entire evening talking to her. I quickly realized I loved this young woman and knew I would someday marry her. Prior to this, I had never believed in love at first sight, until it happened to me.
Vicki did not attempt to hide the fact that she was separated and had a young son named Jason. She told me she had been guilted into getting married at a young age because of her pregnancy and said she never would have married if it were not for all the pressure put upon her.
I was mesmerized by every word Vicki spoke that evening. I have often heard that “time flies when you are having fun” but during this night, I had one of the best times of my life and yet, it did not “fly” as time seemed irrelevant.
Vicki had been drinking a mixed drink and I had been drinking a mixed drink of my own but it was not what it appeared. Vicki caught me putting 7-Up in a glass with a little Coke. I told her it was my fake Seven and Seven. She was very curious about this and asked why.