By Linda Elissalde
When I married my fine husband Marcel Elissalde, I also received a gift of an extended family. His children and grandchildren were a delightful addition. I loved his late sister Gertrude and her husband Steve Brown. They provided us with two wonderful nieces Melissa and Molly. These ladies married good guys. Now we have marvelous great-nieces and great-nephews. (Whew!)

Marcel and I have enjoyed visits from all of the above, and this July we were treated to a visit from niece and nephew-in-law Melissa and Jon Filkowski. They flew from Washington state, landed in Houston, rented a Mustang convertible and drove here to spend time with Uncle Marcel and Aunt Linda. Uncle Marcel and Aunt Linda enjoyed every moment spent with Melissa and Jon during their visit.

The Filkowskis make everything fun. They hike, ski, camp out and travel everywhere. Melissa and Jon took part in any and everything we could offer. They love our beach and riding east or west in Little Toot the golf cart. They even washed it for us.

We gals spent time with Kevin and Mai Le at my favorite Crystal Beach Spa, I LOVE NAILS. Mai fixed us up with matching watermelon toenails. Marcel and I felt young again as Jon drove us around in a top down convertible. The couple delighted in shopping at THE BIG STORE, eating those B&D’s juicy hamburgers, feasting on Stingaree shrimp and chomping down some Texas steak at Saltgrass in Galveston. Jon quickly demolished that Saltgrass chocolate cake.

Many stories about growing up in Alaska and Washington, discussions of family members and friends consumed a lot of time while rocking in chairs on our front deck. Jon creates sand art on all beaches his family visits. So, of course he had to provide one on our beach. Folk stopped, admired and had their photos taken with his Crystal Beach creation. Melissa made 6 batches of family recipe roux for me to freeze. (Look out seafood gumbo. Here we come.) We loaded up Little Toot and headed to the beach on their last evening. Tide was way out; Weather was perfect. We feasted on watermelon and other savories while Melissa and Jon checked out the waves.

Alas, like most fun adventures, Melissa and Jon had to go home. They took one last drive on our beach in Little Toot before loading up the car to head back to the airport. Then, after hugs, kisses and tears, they put the top down and drove away. Marcel and I returned inside to reminisce about how wonderful was THE VISIT from The Filkowskis!

[Jul-19-2022]