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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.

I told Vicki that during my high school years, I attended several parties where everyone drank, everyone but me. I learned early on if you wanted to be part of the group, you had to drink like the group.

To keep people off of my back, I told them I was drinking Seven and Seven and when they looked at my drink, it did resemble a Seven and Seven. I always felt I had more fun watching people get silly without getting silly myself.

My sister Tina and my cousin Cindy accompanied me to the party. Tina was not feeling well and requested I take her back to our grandparent’s (Jermaine and Gertrude Todd) house where we were staying. Vicki came along for the ride and asked that I stop by her new apartment to check on her dog before we returned to the party. I gave Tina a bag to hold onto just in case she got sick.

On our way to our grandparent’s house, Tina did get sick but kept it contained inside the bag. As she was getting out of my newer car, she said, “Aren’t you proud of me Tom, I did not get sick on your Camaro”. Just as she got out, she dropped her bag, which spilled on the passenger door and part of the dash of my Camaro! Tina felt terrible but was in no condition to help clean up. Vicki was gracious enough to help with this detail as I got Tina into the house.

As the party ended, everyone went on their way. I said my goodbyes to Vicki and told her I hoped to see her again very soon. On the way back to my grandparent’s house, I could not stop thinking about Vicki.

After I returned to my grandparent’s house, I had trouble sleeping. I remember just lying in bed thinking about this amazing woman I had met. I also remembered that prior to leaving for the party I told my mother (Barbara) I would be meeting the woman of my dreams that night. I was just joking when I told her this but now I wondered if it was a premonition I would be meeting Vicki.

Vicki and Jason right before we met