enter rooms with great joy shouts, happy to be meeting...

The trip, oh my gosh, was wonderful. It is rare for expectations to line up perfectly with reality and rarer still for that reality to surpass in specialness and just plain fun the hopes you've been puffing up for months while counting down the days until your planned event's arrival. Kara brought photos, old but great ones, of us when we were young and fresh faced and so infatuated with our newfound independence and our youth and one another. Alot has happened since then - big things, joyous things, painful things, things which have grayed our hair, wrinkled our eyes, and softened our edges considerably. The fact that we had to plan and to save and arrange many details in order to pull off our reunion made it that much more delightful, meaningful, and amazing. We had gorgeous, crisp, sunshine-y weather and our car ride past trees changing colors spectacular was breathtaking. We laughed till we cried. We ate all our meals out. We saw a movie, shopped at a Farmer's Market, walked by the beach, and tasted every type of wine produced in Michigan (St. Julian's Sparkling Blanc de Blanc was my favorite, in case you were wondering). I did come back refreshed, and feeling incredibly thankful for these women in my life who through their friendship, loyalty, unconditional love and unique perspectives have challenged, encouraged, and stretched me substantially. Yes, I am teary now and dangerously close to crossing the line dividing sweet from sappy so I will stop here and tuck these memories into my heart where they will hold me over until next year, when we'll pick right back up again like no time has passed, each of us better off from our too brief hours spent together.