Flashback....

Flashback to the early '80s...Oxford, Ohio, the Miami University Botany Department. Graduate school. Classes to take, classes to teach, research to do, oral exams to pass, theses to write and defend. There's nothing like struggling through a graduate degree to make you bond with your fellow classmates. And bond we did. Those were some of the best years of my life. All these years later we are still friends and despite being spread across the nation we manage to gather now and then for a reunion. This time in Milwaukee, where Heather, our resident over-achiever with a PhD directs the electron microscopy lab at the university. The crew... Heather, me from Utah, Dean from California, Riley form Tennessee, Lola from Maine, Kathy from upstate New York. Along with my school friends came a few wonderful spouses, Heather's husband Tom and Riley's wife Sue. I am so happy that my friends all married well, and that despite their spouses not being "one of us" (I think Sue used those words), they have all really become "one of us".

Upon descending at Heather's we discussed when were last all together. We think it was 2003, entirely too long ago. But you know, we the minute we got together it was as if we had all been all together yesterday! Let the fun begin.

Heather lives just a few blocks from Lake Michigan... We stopped at a consignment store as we strolled over the lake. Riley found a great Native American family that he wanted to adopt.




And Dean found a great new potential addition to his wardrobe...


And at the lake, why not crash a wedding party?


We also had an afternoon at the beach... there was talk of swimming, but the water was COLD, and the bath house closed, so we just had a beach party instead. Chips!! Yum!







After the beach we went and grabbed lunch... talking and eating... some of the things we do best! Isn't this how we got through grad school? Eating, drinking and talking... Friday night pizza parties, dinner parties, crazy theme parties. It is a wonder we all graduated!

And the universe must have been watching us. As we ate lunch, what showed up in the parking lot? The Joy Farm bus!!! We were all for a ride to the "Joy Farm"!!!

Heather, our entertainment director, all decked out in the beachware she provided for us all.