40th (wait, what?) High School Reunion

paul and i recently went back to my hometown of potomac, maryland for the winston churchill class of '79 high school reunion. do the math and that makes it a 40th year celebration for my graduating class! still having a difficult time processing that but alas, it is true. early on in the planning, paul voiced that he would like to join me to finally meet many of the friends i am always talking about. sure, if you're sure, but won't you be bored? through the decades, i've attended most of the reunions every 5 or 10 years our class has put on leaving paul to take care of things and everyone at home but hey, reality check, no one at home to take care of, soooo yeh, let's go and make a weekend of it together in d.c.!

potomac is a suburb of washington d.c. i absolutely adored growing up in the nation's capital and my parents took full advantage of the rich environment with regular family visits into the city and surrounds visiting the smithsonian, the monuments, arlington cemetery, mt. vernon, monticello, civil war battlegrounds, to see the cherry blossoms, air force band concerts on the tidal basin, 4th of july fireworks on the mall, and on and on and on. besides the reunion, i wanted to take time this trip to revisit the 3 different places we lived in (in order above) and many of the childhood memories i still hold dear. it all began when i was four years old and my dad took a job at the pentagon. so, our little family consisting of dad, mom, me and my little brother greg moved from california to arlington, virginia. my life continued on in the d.c. area until we were a family of eight and i left after high school graduation for an out of state university.

paul and i flew into dulles and from the airport, passed the exit for arlington, virginia and i said to paul, hey, let's go find the apartment my family first lived in, and we actually did!! i had quickly called my mom in utah and she could remember the main road the complex was on so we drove down washington blvd with my little four year old brain working in high gear to grasp something familiar.....no...no....no......that's it!! we drove into the apartment complex, got out, took photos and whoa, the memories that came flooding back were wonderful - and that's pretty much how the whole weekend went. memories surfacing from the far recesses of my mind that hadn't been visited for many a year. loved, loved it.

from there, we did a quick trip into the city and walked the mall with a stop into the national gallery of art which was one of my very favorites when i was young and where i fell in love with monet, degas, renoir, pissarro and all the impressionists. to see again the paintings which fittingly have left such an impression on me throughout my life was a beautifully overwhelming experience. finally, we made our way to my dear friend lisa's house where we were invited to stay the weekend. lisa was and continues to be a good, good friend since high school although she attended a different school than i did. paul and i were spoiled with good food, exciting conversation, a comfy room and plenty of dog camaraderie. thank you again, lisa and mark!

that night was the reunion so we met up with my high school friend lois and made our way there. paul was a star but i was nervous, excited, anxious and actually started to tear up before i even entered the party recognizing three elementary school girlfriends, i hadn't seen for decades, posted at the door as greeters - i lost it. but, i gathered myself together and had the absolute best time reacquainting with old friends (some h.s. boyfriends - awkward), sharing memories, taking photos, appreciating facebook for breaking the ice with friends i may not have recognized otherwise and always double checking identities with quick glances to name tags. so happy to be reunited with many from this outstanding group of people, nearly 600 in our graduating class. we truly do adore each other - group photo of us old men and women above.

paul and i spent the next day driving through my old neighborhoods, stopping to take photos at the two houses our family lived in, my church, elementary school, jr. high, high school and track where i competed as a sprinter and lead many a cheer. we had lunch at roy rogers, a favorite spot in my teenage years, and then drove up to harpers ferry, west virginia, a place i used to love to visit. not only is harpers ferry a charming old town located at the point where the potomac and shenandoah rivers meet but its historic influence is significant as it is the site where the abolitionist raid on john brown and his men took place in 1859. the appalachian trail also runs through the town. its a beautiful and very interesting setting and we enjoyed a full afternoon there feeling very much immersed in the historic beauty of the east.

our last morning, before our late afternoon flight, we drove to annapolis to visit my best friend from jr. high and high school, stephanie. i'm always excited to spend time with her as well as wander around annapolis and be close to the sea again. we walked to a restaurant from her house and enjoyed a seafood lunch overlooking the chesapeake bay. maryland crab cakes - my best. actually, the entire friend and memory-filled weekend was nothing short of - my best. thanks for coming, paul. sharing all of it with you made the best time even better.

the photo below has been fun! sebastian and madison were surprised to be the face of uta - utah transit authority and what beautiful faces they are. their photo showed up as a feature on posters and websites around salt lake city supporting trax, the city's light rail system. you guys look cool.

live your life

and forget 

your age.

Utah getaway

we met up with three of our five kids in utah for a weekend getaway. andrew and margo, who are living in the san francisco area, spent the week with gabi in her cute apartment in provo and visited with friends and other family and then paul and i joined them at the end of their stay. while there, paul's mom, mervyl, margo and i stopped by my sweet niece julia's house (cousins margo and julia have been bffs since birth) and not only wanted a photo of julia and chase and their cute boys, atlas and little august, but took a four generation photo op as well!

another part of our family that is growing are the dog members!! margo and andrew have added the incredibly adorable and quite enchanting english bull terrier arnold to their family and sebastian and maddi have sweet, sweet smudge. now, there's a story.............so, margo and andrew were living in kazakhstan a few months ago and while there, margo became very involved in the stray and homeless dog situation in their city of atyrau. she fostered a number of dogs herself and found homes for many others. she tells the story of discovering a new litter of 10 puppies in the gutter near their apartment just a couple weeks before their scheduled relocation back to the states. with each new day, the litter became smaller and smaller. not knowing the fate of the puppies, big-hearted margo scooped up the last 3 and took them home with her settling them in and promptly naming them pudge, fudge and smudge. eventually, she was able to find homes for pudge and fudge before moving but smudge was packed up with the rest of their apartment making her way to the states, with an enjoyable layover with margo and andrew in amsterdam i might add, to finally land in utah in the loving arms of her adoptive parents, sebastian and madison. my oh my......lucky, lucky girl. puppies arnie and smudge, who adore each other, are pictured together fifth photo from the top.

back to the weekend getaway.....our son-in-law andrew's family has a ranch in the little mountain town of liberty, utah, just through the canyon from ogden. andrew invited us all up for a stay on this amazing family property settled by his grandfather, a well known and respected horseman back in the 1950's. what a treasure. we absolutely loved our time altogether in this beautiful setting. we stayed in the main cabin but there is a cabin named cabin as well as a trapper's cabin on the ranch which upon lifting the metal latch on its weathered wooden door, feels as though you've entered into a pristinely preserved mountain man time capsule. wow. we explored, we hiked, we biked, we spotted deer and wild turkeys, we went treasure hunting in the barn, we sat around the campfire and ate s'mores, we picked wildflowers and chased the dogs across meadows and into the stream, we made friends with the horses and listened to andrew's stories of his childhood on the property. we simply savored spending our time together in this unique setting. thank you andrew for your generosity in sharing with us, this very special family legacy.

Quality

not

quantity.