Day 4 - Lakewood, NY

In the morning, Jeff took my mom and I through the little town of Findley Lake to enjoy the small shops. After that, I prepared to find my dear friend Celeste and other good friend, Bonny, at Bemus Point, near Lakewood. We had hoped that others could join us, but as it happens, some were not in town and others had other plans.

That did not matter. The three of us had a wonderful reunion. We began at a hotel with rocking chairs

all along its front porch, where we had a drink. We then gravitated to the Ellicottville Brewery, where we got a great porch table for dinner. Bemus has bands on summer weekends that imitate well-known bands, and this weekend was Chicago. They were terrific!

Bonnie invited two other couples to join us over the evening ("Such a social butterfly," was Celeste's comment), and she later called her daughter to join us, who has a degree in public health and has been to Kenya twice.

In many ways, it felt as though we had never been separated. We were so comfortable together. We talked about our marriages, our children, my travels, our work, friends who had moved on and those who were still in the area. We remembered football games and silly events and old crushes. Bonney had married Randy Smith ("Oh!" I said. "I had a crush on him!")

The night passed like minutes.