A Day To Remember

Every now and then I have a day that reminds that my 52 years have been filled with amazing people and many blessings.  Yesterday was one such day. Here's a recap...


Marilyn, Will and I began our journey to Kissimmee around 9:45 am.  We arrived early and drove down 192, seeing once again all of the remarkable changes that have taken place there since we moved away in 2000.  It seems every motel has a new name.  Many of our favorite restaurants are gone, replaced by new ones.  We drove by the house FUMC-K provided us for the 6 years we lived there, the house where Will lived his first years. We drove by the church itself.  The memories were coming at me in waves.  All this time the excitement was building over the reunion planning meeting we were heading to attend, and Teresa Tysinger was reminding me by text of all the possibilities such a reunion would bring and how many people were excited by the idea.  By the time we arrived at the Broadway Pizza Bar just before noon, I was ready!


Quite a few of the people we thought were coming to the meeting wound up not making it, but Jill Watson, Cindy Martin and the Jones clan had a grand old time reliving old stories and making plans. As Jill said, we picked up right where we left off 12 years ago.  Interested people can read and respond to our reunion proposals by clicking here- and please do, because we desperately want your input!  But we had too much fun and laughed way too hard, and 2 hours went by in the blink of an eye.  We left not only excited about the possible reunion, but also about planning more planning meetings!


In the midst of all of this, our dear friend Lisa Jewett was kind enough to stop by our Tampa home and let Conner the Dog out to stretch his legs and relieve his bladder.  Not just any friend will do that for you.especially when the dog is as crazy as Conner, but Lisa was glad to do it.  We do have such amazing friends...


The came reunion #2 of the day, as we ventured over to Downtown Disney to catch up with the Farlow clan from NC, who were just arriving in Orlando.  The group included Todd Farlow (a Hall of Fame student from my days at Springfield Friends Meeting), his wife Meleah and their 2 kids, as well as Todd's mom and dad, Brenda and Lewis.  Also with him them were Todd's older sister Amy, her hubby David Logan and their 2 daughters.  We had thought we were not going to get to see Amy's family, and so when I wrote about seeing the Farlow's in yesterday's post I neglected to mention them.  By the time we arrived in Kissimmee, Amy had made it known on Facebook that I was in trouble for leaving them out!  We had a good laugh about it.  We wound up just meeting them at Disney's All-Star Sports Resort and having dinner there.  It had been at least 8 years since we had seen any of them, but once again it was immediately like old times.  Brenda abused me for my gray hair; Lewis was making me laugh hysterically; Marilyn and Amy were cracking each other up; and Will was simply soaking it in.  Such great people who were so very important in my life- and still are.  I just love that family. Again, 2 hours went by in a blink.


The blessings of the day (and the weekend) were not quite done.  I got a message from my Twitter Sis, telling me she and her family were coming to WDW in October and hoping to catch up with me.  That would be so awesome! Marilyn got a call from my old friend (and fellow Banana Split!) Ray Luther, who followed me as the youth pastor at Springfield and is now the senior pastor there. He is here is central Florida with his wife Katie.  We are hoping to meet them for dinner tonight, unless we have to build an ark this afternoon.  And finally, we got word through Facebook that my old NYWC buddy (and another of Banana Splits!) Tim Vestal and his wife Sarah welcomed a baby boy into the world yesterday.  Simply put, it was an AWESOME day!!!


It was indeed a day to remember, both in the sense that it was a wonderful day, and in the sense that I remembered so many of the people who have so blessed my life.  Thanks to everyone who made it so special.  Have a blessed Sunday, dear readers!


Because of Jesus,