Has it been that long?

I have an 'on again/off again' relationship with Facebook.  Blogger is where I come to express my thoughts (and share pictures for the Grandmas who will email or call when I'm quiet for too long) so I often skip the social networking site.  After all, to be a really good friend, you have to be on there too often.  And right now I don't need one more thing to add to my day...

BUT.

Facebook has served as a way to reconnect with some folks that I lost touch with ~ and really wish I hadn't.  My sophomore through graduation roommate (and actually, for the number of times I slept on her beanbag freshman year, we could almost say we lived together all four years) ~ Beth ~ and I have been fortunate to live within two hours (at most) of one another since we graduated.  But I sadly lost touch with Lori and Susan ~ with whom Beth and I shared a two room apartment junior/senior years ~ shortly after we all were married.  It wasn't because we didn't get along.  More because I spent most of my waking moments those two years with "the wrong guy" and therefore missed out on a lot of history with my roommates...

At any rate, we all attended one another's weddings (though I did have to miss Lori's because I was in another wedding that day) and then quietly slipped out of one another's lives.  Over the years I wondered how they were doing, but had no idea how to find them again.

Enter Facebook.

Honestly at this point I can't remember 'who found who', but Lori and I were virtually reconnected last year.  We used social media to the fullest and caught up on the past decade of life ~ kids, careers, moves ~ and stayed in touch from time to time.  But this summer she was coming back East to visit family in NC and she, Beth and I cooked up a plan for a reunion.

With Daniel still newly home, we scratched plans for a mini-trip together.  And last week, with me still sleep deprived, Beth and Lori were willing to yet again alter our plans accommodate my family a little more.  So it wasn't much more than chatting at my house yesterday afternoon and having dinner here together (that Beth brought from her home) and then going to the pool today.

But we sure had fun.  And conversation never really stopped.  Even if it's been 12 years since we've been together.

16 years after graduation

And it was fun to watch our eight kids get to know one another.  (Yes, we have eight kids between us).

picnic lunch at the pool with friends ~ does summer get any better?

We've vowed not to let another twelve years pass and are hoping for a beach retreat next summer when Lori comes East again.  Here's hoping Susan can come next time to make the reunion complete!