This is Jean and Earl Eidem on the steps of the Old Florida Capitol - now a history museum. They live in Crestview Florida now.
We just spent 3 days with Jean Santore Eidem and Earl Eidem - two of my former students at the Panther Valley Middle School. Earl used to live in Summit Hill and Jean lived in Nesquehoning. Now they live in Crestview FL which is about 2 hours west of us in the Florida Panhandle.
You know you are old when you have students that are also already retired. Earl served in the Air Force. He has lived in Florida - Alabama - Washington State - Iceland - England - and Alaska. He first served in Florida more than 20 years ago - so he has been here longer than us.
Earl has earned his Bachelor's degree at Auburn University and his Master's Degree at the University of Arkansas. He recently was hired by Boeing to write technical manuals for service on their planes. Jean works Florida Northwest State College doing contract work. They have 3 kids - including a son - Earl - that just completed his basic training in the Navy. Earl and Jean are in the process of adopting two brothers. They own a 10 acre estate outside of Crestview - a town of about 40,000 people.
I re-connected with Earl and Jean on Facebook. I noticed in a post that they were now living in Florida so we invited them over for a basketball game. They arrived on Friday - we had a lot of catching up to do. On Saturday they saw their first college basketball game and were so excited to see FSU beat Miami. After that we toured the town - and re-watched the game on video over pizza.
This morning they drove back home to get ready for the adoption. In the past they used to attend FSU football games - something we hope they renew.
Like us - they seldom return to "the Bubble" although they still have family back home.
You can tell by the pictures that Earl is a lot bigger than me now. In 7th grade - Earl said I paddled him. He asked me if I would like to try it now :-) Only kidding - Earl is a real gentlemen - has served his country well - and has a wonderful family.
I am really proud to be Earl and Jeannie's old science teacher.
The New Capitol has a 25 story observation post - but it is not open on weekends. We settled for a tour of the Old Capitol.
Earl is a big Bobby Bowden fan - here we are posed with Bobby's Statue in front of the FSU Hall of Fame. We got to see two national championship trophies and two Heisman trophies. 
FSU handily beat Miami before a happy crowd of about 9000. Seldom do I buy tickets ahead of time - I usually "shop" outside for deals. This time we wanted 4 seats together - so I bought them early - showing off. We also got to see FSU Softball clobber Tennessee Tech.
At the Florida History Museum - Jean and I posed before this old green model T camper. It reminded them of my green tour bus.
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