#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Today was an amazing day. I woke up early knowing I had a lot to do to get ready to host 50th my high school reunion gathering, and I was anxious. Which makes sense. It felt like a momentous day, and you never know how a day is going to unfold. And seeing people one hasn’t seen in years. All the emotion and memories. So I took a few minutes to meditate, and that helped ground me. And then I thought I would take a walk but changed my mind, hopped on my bike, road to Farm Pond, and jumped in the water. The heron was there. The leaves were changing and reddening the water. A muskrat swam by. It was a very quiet and lovely time. I didn’t swim far, the water was cold but it was pleasant. I very much enjoyed the calm. I rode home chilled and happy and grateful. And after a long hot shower I was ready to get to work. And I became so busy I forgot about anxiety and the sun was shining so brightly in the yard that I knew we could be outdoors and enjoy the yard for a sunny October day. And Annie came to help set up, and Margie came and helped and we went to the high school we had all graduated from fifty years ago, four minutes away, and gathered for a tour, and even though all three of my own children graduated from this high school too, I was happy to take the tour with old friends. Then home to the lunch and lots of classmates came and thank goodness we had name tags, but the talk and the memories and the questions and check-ins and hugs and smiles came easily. We were on the deck in the sunshine overlooking the yard and talking and talking. A few walked to the river, a few played pickle ball. . . everyone was happy. And the conversations were long and surprising. Everyone stayed til late afternoon and then we had a bit of a break before the evening dinner nearby in Dover. Franci and Will are home and they came by and my best friend from elementary school, Jule, took a nap in the guest room, and then we were off to dinner. More people came to the dinner and everyone who missed the lunch was very sad that they had missed the lunch. I was grateful that we had a quiet afternoon because it was loud at the dinner. Nice, but harder to have conversation. Frank was such a good sport, helping with the lunch and coming along to the dinner. I am so grateful to have had this day, this reunion, this class, these people, and I missed seeing the fifteen or so classmates that we have lost.