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Friday, July 24, 2009

What's Up?

Pam and I were stationed in Hawaii in the mid 1980's. It was a very good assignment and we met some wonderful people. While there we attended the International Baptist Church. Among those we met in our Sunday School Class were Jon & Barbara Brown and Rod & Lisa Hamilton.

After Hawaii, Jon & Barbara returned to Buffalo NY and have remained there. Rod & Lisa moved to the Detroit area and live in Clinton Township. Pam and I finished up our career in the USAF and ended up in Fairfax, VA.

A few weeks ago Pam & I did some planning for our time here. When we knew the dates we would be in the Michigan area visiting Adam and Meghan and we contacted Jon & Barbara and then Rod & Lisa. Interestingly, Jon had business in Detroit and we were all able to meet at Rod/Lisa's house for dinner on Monday evening.

What a treat!

It was the first time in at least 23 years we had all been together. Back in Hawaii we were part of a unique group. We had a number of young marrieds in our SS class and every month 2 couples would volunteer to lead the social event. The rules were you had to sign up first, then you would get directions where to show up and what to wear.

Hence the title: What's Up?

One time we had a 7 course meal (spaghetti, etc) and you picked two things at a time to eat, so you may end up with dessert and French bread. When you picked two more you may get spaghetti and salad...
Another time we did a scavenger hunt and went half way around Oahu looking for clues in teams of 4 (kind of like geo caching now).
Another time we met at someone's home and brought a 35mm slide that we wanted to share. It ended up being a great icebreaker and helped us get to know each other.

Those days were a special time for all of us and filled with wonderful memories of small kids (all of ours were (new born to 4 years old), busy moms and idealistic hard charging dads. Jon was with the Army Corps of Engineers. Rod flew helicopters and I flew a desk (staff job).

Move the clock forward 20+ years and we were at the Hamiltons. We were able to get together for a fantastic dinner and wonderful fellowship. To top it off, Jon had the phone number of our Pastor and his wife at the time: Dick and Julie Lindemann. We called them and put them on speaker phone for a quick chat. They are currently in Post Falls, ID. Kind of hard to fill in the gaps in 10 minutes but we did our best.

After the call, we had dessert and talked some more. We could have gone on for hours. But Pam and I had to get up early to take the Roadrunner in to the Service Center for some work and we had a 90 minute drive back to Adam's.It was a terrific night with some great friends and part of the reason we love being full-timers. We are able to see a lot of folks we haven't seen in years and we love it.

More later from the Roadrunner Chronicles. Thanks again for checking in. Until next time, be safe.

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