Omigosh!

I don't usually go over a week without posting a blog! But it has been 9 days. That is because this past weekend was huge, and I was obsessed with preparing for it all week. It was a weekend devoted to remembering Shirley and celebrating her legacy. We were observing the 25th anniversary of her death, which is actuually tomorrow, the 24th, but we used the previous weekend so that more people could be involved - especially Sunday. But we had a really lovely small gathering on Saturday - nine people - at John and Cynthia's house. In addition to J, C, E and me, that included Tom and Courtney MacLachlan from Amesbury, MA, who go back to our time at Lawrence U, 54 years ago; Mary Anderson-Nissen, from Bennington, VT, who we also first met back at Lawrence, and Phil McKean, from Cushing, ME, who goes back 60 years to our time in Providence, RI. The ninth person was Karen Fisher, an old friend of John's, who we first met back in the 1980's I guess. That group of people had never been together before, and some had never met before. But they all knew Shirley, all had memories to share, and they are all just really special people. There was also Henry, a very nice, well-behaved dog. We had a great time together. Lots of love and gratitude flowing around!

Above: John talking to Mary/Below; Phil (r) and Tom (l). Alas, no photos of Courtney, Karen or Henry. Cynthia and Ellen are well-known here, of course. Sunday was over the top wonderful and deserves its own post, when I get a chance. But if you go to YouTube and search "Guilford Community Church," both the morning May 21st service and the afternoon "Memorial Celebration" are there to click on and you can see for yourself.