Welcome Back ...

No, Mr. Kotter hasn't taken over this blog, but I am welcoming myself back from an unintended blogcation. My volleyball team had 3 nights of competition last week in 5 days, and one of those was a doubleheader. Then I left town within a half an hour of the last match for the weekend. That's right I took a couple of days of vacation and actually missed a Sunday. That hadn't happened for 6 months.

The weekend was great. I got together with 4 other guys. We became friends our freshman year in college. We have maintained contact for these 35 years since that first meeting our freshman year. Wow, I am getting old. We gathered at a lake cottage a couple of hours from where I live. 3 of us are within 2 hours of the gathering place, 1 is 5 or 6 hours away and one had to fly in to join us. 2 of the group live back in their hometowns, 3 are in the state they grew up in and 2 of us are not even in our original home state. Among the 5 of us we have 16 children, 13 grandchildren with another one due any day. A couple of interesting facts are that among the 5 of us I am the only one who has lost a parent and none of us has been divorced. But, one of the guys recently lost his wife after a 3 year battle with a brain tumor.

We still get along well after all these years, in spite of the geographic distances between us and the varied experiences in which we are working and living. We did a little bit of reminiscing, but that was the smallest part of our conversations. It was fun to catch up on what is happening in each of our lives. We are all not only attending church, but involved in our churches as well.

The weekend was a much needed time to get away, to laugh a lot, share with those who know us and care for us. There was not much rest given that we didn't make it bed until 3 am or later each night. But it was still very refreshing.

From all reports things went well here at church while I was gone. (Not to self: they can survive just fine without me.) Attendance was down, but the spirit was good.

Here's hoping you can enjoy some time of renewal and refreshment this week.