Dispatches from Driving Seniors is a recurring column featuring the accomplished, fascinating and resilient seniors I’ve met as part of my volunteer work with The Orinda Association’s Seniors Around Town program.
Married for 37 years, John and Joanne Kaminski share a passion for international travel and their large, blended family.
The first thing I noticed about John Kaminski was his cheerful and full-of-life attitude; his ebullience.
Not a word typically used to describe a man emerging from a four-hour dialysis appointment, gripping a walker to steady himself. But ebullience truly is the quality John Kaminski exudes.
As a Seniors Around Town volunteer driver, I’ve given John many rides. Every single time, he was delightfully good-natured as we shared insightful and inspirational conversations.
When I later drove his wife, Joanne, who has an equally exuberant personality as well as a gorgeous mane of red hair, I was completely entranced by this couple.
John and Joanne met on a blind date neither wanted to go on. They each vowed to only have a quick drink to appease friends who thought they were perfect for each other.
Turns out, the friends were right. “We never parted after that,” said John.
They’d both been married and divorced in the past, but have now been happily wedded for 37 years. They found their soulmate in each other, bonding over shared passions for international travel and their blended family of five children, 16 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.
When they first met, Joanne shared her dream of seeing the Seven Wonders of the World. Not only did they go on to visit the Seven Wonders as a couple, but they expanded the dream to visit 179 countries.
Their globetrotting has not been without occasional bumps in the road. Five years ago, after unexplained weight gain and a trip to the doctor landed him in the hospital, John discovered his kidneys weren’t working. He immediately began dialysis.
His illness and COVD-19 paused their travels for a time. Determined to continue their adventures, they took a cruise in August, with a dialysis machine on board, and visited Sardinia – their 180th country.
I had the pleasure to talk to them about what life is like at this age, what they have learned and what they look forward to.
What gets you going in the morning?
John: Life. We get up and we hope to see the kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. And they show up a lot.
Joanne: We hear from kids every day.
John: We love to see the little babies. When they bring them here, it’s such a motivation to keep living.
What are your aspirations?
John: To finish our travels. There are probably four or five more countries we’d like to visit. We would like to see a couple more grandkids get married. Four boys are not yet married, but they all have wonderful significant others and we’d love to go to their weddings.
Joanne: We look forward to the babies. But I also want to live long enough to see if there’s anything out there in outer space. I hope we get an answer in my lifetime.
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Joanne: Yes, I think I do. Probably more of a spirit world to me.
John: I think there’s something out there. I don’t know what.
Joanne: We’ll probably bug each other when we’re gone. Our spirits will meet up someplace.
John: Maybe in a different dimension.
Joanne: We’ll still be exploring.
How is your health now?
Joanne: Fortunately I’ve been pretty stable, health wise. John just plugs right along. My son in Lafayette has a place with a bunch of stairs and all the boys carry him up those stairs and sit him down. It’s nice having a big family.
Do you have any regrets?
Joanne: Didn’t Frank Sinatra sing a song like that? I’ve had a few, but I did it my way.
John: That’s our song.
Joanne: We both have the same attitude about things. If you just look ahead, every time something comes up that’s kind of not so good – almost in a few hours for us – something happens and it’s just great news. Somebody’s getting married or somebody’s having a baby. We wouldn’t do anything differently.
Do you have any fears?
John: Not really. Whatever happens, happens, I don’t worry about it. Life is too short to worry.
Joanne: Yes, that’s how I feel. Why worry about something that hasn’t happened yet? We both have the same attitude. After it happens, then we’ll worry about it.
What’s a favorite memory?
Joanne: It was really special getting married on a boat in the San Francisco Bay, with all our kids with us.
Anything you want to add?
Joanne: One thing that has made our lives so much better is Seniors Around Town. These people, they are all wonderful. When I didn’t feel comfortable driving through the tunnel anymore to my doctor’s appointments, knowing I could have a delightful, pleasant person drive me, just took all my worries away. I don’t even know how to explain what a wonderful feeling it is.
To learn more about Seniors Around Town, visit https://orindaassociation.org/seniors-around-town or call 925.402.4506.
Kathy Cordova can be reached at cordova@theorindanews.com.
