Road trip and old friends - if only for a little while.....

Took it easy all day yesterday so I would be up to our little adventure today. This picture reminds me of one Big D took of me, Roseanne and Mama when we all had our great adventure in Charleston, SC! What a fun trip that was! Roseanne and I drove down to Fayetteville to hear two Special talks and meet up with some dear old friends who were visiting from Washington State. We were amazed by how quickly we arrived at our destination - been quite a few years since we have been there and boy - it was much faster with the new highways than it used to be when we had to come home on Sunday nights on a two lane highway with crazy, impatient drivers. We had a little trouble locating our destination but thankfully we had a phone number and someone "talked" us to the front door. My dear old friend was called to mind again as the years fell away and it was as if we had not been apart for so many years. They both looked great and we were all excited to be together if only for a little while. They really haven't changed that much and the years have been good to both of them. After the tight hugging, Roseanne and I slipped away - I whispered to Marj that we didn't want to interfere with the friends who had brought them down and we would get together after the meetings. Of course the Special Talk was wonderful as it always is. Then Bob got up to give his closing talk and he had something he wanted to say before he started the talk that brought tears to a lot of eyes. He spoke of how long they have both been in the full-time service together and how they made many sacrifices and basically took a vow of poverty. But with all of that, he said the only thing they both worried about over the years of so many privileges in full-time service was their families. He joked that his mother-in-law always managed to visit them no matter where their assignments were and we all laughed because many of us got to meet and get to know that special little woman through the years. Then he said they had talked about it and how as he looked out at all of us, including the two friends from Durham and the ones who drove from Mt. Olive - we were their family and how they wanted to thank all of us for being their family. Oh yeah - very misty eyes. Something else we learned is this brother is Bob's distant cousin on his Mom's side. It turns out Bob's mother's family was from Dunn, NC. We teased him about being "Southern" after which he had to tell us he was raised in Maryland. I didn't want to burst his bubble by telling him Maryland is South of the Mason-Dixon Line even though I find that hard to believe myself. They love Washington and invited me and Roseanne to come up to which we replied that we might just have to do that. Hmmm - I feel a nice BIG trip coming up. Thanks for inviting us down to see you if only for a little while.........