The last two weekends of reuniting with “old” dear friends  have been really amazing.  They have made me understand the root meaning of reunion… I think I have been so amazed that friends who haven’t seen each other for many years can still be so united in love.

The first week of January we went to Washington DC, and on Friday night had a reunion of a group of friends who used to hang out during my first four years after college.  Our friends the McCarthys have been in Papau New Guinea for more than a decade… other friends have moved around.  We have probably not all been in the same room since before I first went to Japan (1989)!  We’ve multiplied (!), but a lot of other things stayed the same.  A few practical jokes were had by all – of course!

On Saturday, we had a mini-reunion of some women friends who used to meet together for breakfast… we called ourselves the Morning Glories… and there wasn’t nearly enough time to catch up with each other (below left).  And for dinner, our friends Lyn and Larry hosted some more old friends, and my Dad and his wife.  I tried to keep the focus away from some of those embarrassing stories from the past… (below right).

This past weekend, Tennessee was the serendipitous location for a reunion among my college friends.  We were sad that at the last minute two friends had to cancel, but the rest of the five of us had an amazing time.

Even though it’s been almost twenty five years since we were all together at the same time, there was still a common bond — check out these pajamas that my old roommate Daphne and I both brought with us:

If THIS doesn’t prove that two people are lifelong friends…

A wonderful ending to our weekend was participating in a very special church service in Knoxville at Providence church.  It was communion, and this week the staff had worked hard to create an atmosphere that made it easy to enter in.  We held hands, took communion, and once again were thankful for the wonderful friendships that God has given us.