Chapter 11
An interview with Joe and Janey…
Here we are, fifteen years later, with Joe and Janey Cantrell. We’ve just revisited your love story. What do you remember most about this time in your lives?
Janey: What a week that was… I left the island, planning to marry David, and came back a few days later, halfway in love with Joe.
Joe: Only halfway?
Janey: Haha, it took me a minute to catch up to you.
Joe: That was the happiest week of my life, even if it was tough for you. Janey had a bit of whiplash.
Janey: That’s a good word for it. My entire life changed in the course of one afternoon and evening, but it changed for the better.
Joe and your parents encouraged you to finally go to veterinary school. What did their support mean to you?
Janey: It meant everything. When Joe told me he’d hired Seamus to run the ferry company so he could come with me to Ohio… I still can’t believe everything he did to make it possible for us to be together while I was in school.
Joe: You can’t? Really? I finally had the chance to be with my dream girl. There was nothing I wouldn’t have done to make it work.
Janey: Sigh.
How is it going being Dr. Janey Cantrell, DMV, and running the Gansett Island Vet Clinic?
Janey: It’s a dream come true. Every day is a different challenge, and I get to work with my favorite ‘people.’”
Joe: She means the animals.
Janey: Haha, yes, they’re the best. They make it so much fun. And the actual people aren’t bad, either.
Joe, when you hired Seamus to run the ferry company, you never could’ve imagined how he’d become part of your family.
Joe: (laughing) Ain’t that the truth? And now he’s my stepdaddy.
LOL! Do you call him that?
Joe: Every chance I get. He’s made my mother very happy, and he’s one of my best friends. We’re very lucky it worked out the way it did.
Your children, PJ and Vi, are growing up quickly. How old are they now?
Janey: PJ is fourteen and a freshman in high school, which we cannot believe. Vi is eleven and in sixth grade. They’re active in the island children’s theater, and both play soccer. They keep us busy.
Joe, are you still captaining the ferries?
Joe: I fill in as needed, which allows me to drive the kids around and wrangle the special-needs pets my wife continues to bring home regularly.
Janey: What can I say? It’s what I do.
Joe: And we’re all thankful for what you do. (With a wink for his wife…) Some of us more than others.