Carolyn Lloyd and Cornerman Rick

We met in 1964 while Rick was attending BCIT and Carolyn was at UBC. We were “set up” by Rick’s Aunt because the families attended the same church in Kitsilano in Vancouver. We dated for quite a while and Rick was working in northern BC so would commute to the big smoke to chase this innocent girl.

We were married in 1968 and have two wonderful young men who try but are not able to keep us in line. Our early married life was spent at university then Vancouver, Kamloops, Prince George and finally Victoria in 1987. Since then we have enjoyed our home in Gordon Head and have been involved in the community and Scouts Canada. Rick has been a scout leader and Carolyn has been a Regional Commissioner looking after the overall program of Scouting in Greater Victoria. Now, Rick is volunteering at Camp Barnard, the local scouting camp in Sooke. That has meant a significant involvement in Camp maintenance and keeping major camp programs functioning.

Carolyn has been an active member of the Glendale Gardens which has been very rewarding and has spurred on the development of our home gardens which we really enjoy. Carolyn plans, Rick digs.

We maintained an active backpacking and outback camping program with our boys, the Scouts and just ourselves as we visited as many beautiful areas of Vancouver Island and BC. In addition, we managed to do a bit of international travel in Europe, Africa, New Zealand and Australia. All of that was cut short in September of 2018 when Carolyn was diagnosed with a combination of Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases. Her illness came on very quickly and resulted in the curtailment of all our travel and social activities until we were able to get her assessed and involved in programs of medication and exercise through Vancouver Island Health. Unfortunately, at the same time, in 2018, Rick was diagnosed with major heart issues which resulted in open heart surgery in December of 2018. Carolyn was not able to assist in any way at that time so we conscripted all our family members to stay with us from early December till January. That Christmas was very quiet but we made it all work.

By January, Rick was able to look after both of the patients and finally in the spring of 2019 Carolyn was able to get medication that helped her regain much of her cognitive ability and she was able to once more have fun with the kids and family. In June of 2019, a neurologist at UBC in Vancouver prescribed a new medication which changed our world. He said it would take up to six weeks to provide full impact but within twenty four hours she was almost her old humorous self. It was a huge relief. In addition to that, she was assessed and provided a physiotherapeutic program at Royal Jubilee Hospital. That was very beneficial and when combined with the new medications, she blossomed.

Once that program ran out, we were introduced to Krista at PWP. We had no idea what we were getting in to but we were encouraged to “try it out”. Well, that was a sneaky way to get us hooked. Since then we have been attending the programs regularly and loving them. Carolyn is called the “boxer” and Rick a “corner man.” That seems to work out just fine but Rick likes the exercise so much he often drags Carolyn along for a second session. OK, she likes them too. And Rick likes the cookies!

Now, with this virus shutting down the gym, we are relegated to going on local hikes, climbing local mountains (hills) and getting involved in the Friday Zoom exercised with Jeannine. We also do some online boxing programs with her then have a nap. Does this sound familiar?

So, there you have it. We are still having fun in the garden and chatting with friends at the fences while keeping way more than social distancing. We miss the social part of PWP and of course the amazing exercises that we shared with so many new found friends.