Final Reunion Thoughts

Sunday morning came early after a late (for me) night Saturday - after spending 6 hours on my feet at the reunion, it was time to run.  Literally.  My training plan had me scheduled for 20 miles on the weekend, so I mapped out a route from Kokomo High School through Highland Park - it was a 2.5 mile course, so I figured I'd run it out-and-back 4 times.  It worked out well; I could keep Gatorade and Gu Chomps in the car and also hit the water fountains in the park.  An added bonus: I'd get to run through my old neighborhood as well as the park where I spent much of my formative years.

You wouldn't believe how many memories flooded back as I ran back and forth.  Though there have been changes since I was there, much was still the same.  I saw the various trees I spent time in. I especially enjoyed seeing the other runners in the park (I counted 16 - including one guy who was running 9 miles who I saw multiple times).  As I finished running, there was an older guy on a bike going the same direction.  He had to have thought I was extremely strange (at best) as I sprinted to "beat" him to my "finish line."

I cleaned up, had breakfast (prepared by Suzanne Carey), and headed for church.  I had decided to go to Chapel Hill Christian Church's 10:30 service, which was really good timing - I was able to get cleaned up, eat breakfast, and get to church on time.  There, the coolest thing happened: as I went into the church, the first person I saw was my old friend Darrell.  I had been e-mailing with Darrell and was bummed that he wasn't going to be at our reunion (family vacation took priority) - so I was super excited to see him.  It was great to get a chance to worship with him, to have him take me on the "tour" of the building (they've built a new sanctuary since I was there - and renovated most of the old), and to go out for lunch together after church.  We laughed so hard at all the old stories - most of which hadn't been told in years. I hadn't seen Darrell or his wife since they made their way to Chicago for my wedding, over 13 years ago...

This was probably my highlight of the weekend - getting to hang out with an old friend for as long as we wanted, talking, laughing, sharing.  And I hope to not wait 20 years to do it again.