Darryl Doug
Cheryl Lisa Becky Merrily Sonja
July 5th, 1998
Dearest Class of '82,
After many months of planning and great expectation for our 16th year class reunion the weekend has come and gone. As I am writing this Doug, the last to leave, is in the air heading back to Delaware. I have written this letter over and over again in my mind over the past week. There are so many things that I have going through my head and my heart that I'm not so sure that this is going to come out very organized but my main reason for writing is to fill in those of you who were not able to be here and to reiterate to those of you who were here just how much it meant to have you here in our home and to get to spend quality time with you!
For those of you who were not here, let me back up and give you a run down of our weekend. Our weekend actually started WEDNESDAY evening (the 24th) when Darryl arrived at about 8:30. (We were sorry that Cindy, Paul and Joshua were not able to come too.) About an hour later Sonya and her fiancé, Roger, arrived after 22 hours of flying and lay-overs from Switzerland. (The "fiancé" title was announced to us on Friday night. Congratulations---again!!) Rooms had been reserved in a hotel about 2 miles from our house, so after a short time together everyone headed for bed. THURSDAY morning Darryl graciously watched my three little guys while I finished up last minute things and Sonya and Roger hit the mall. Lisa and hubby, Bill, arrived at 12:30, followed by Cheryl at 2:00. We all came back to the house and chatted until it was time to head for the airport once again to pick up Merrily and her daughter Rachel. (Rachel will be 2 on Sept. 13th.) Stan, we were sorry that you couldn't make it either. Supper was spaghetti at our house. It was great to get reacquainted that evening as we prepared our picnic for Friday, but I think there was still a certain incomplete feeling since we still lacked one more person. 9:30 FRIDAY morning, after breakfast, we all piled into the cars and headed for the airport to pick up Doug. From the airport we went up to Antelope Island in The Great Salt Lake. We had a picnic, rescued a seagull with a broken wing and watched Doug, Jim (my husband) and Bill try to float in The Great Salt Lake. A good time was had by all. We still had a couple hours left in the afternoon so we drove back to Salt Lake City and up one of the canyons to take a little hike. There was a stream that ran down the mountain and if we closed our eyes and just listened we could pretend we were at the Boqueron. After showers and freshening up we went down town to a restaurant that I wanted to try out. It's called Incantation, and that's all I told everybody. They were all surprised and pleased to arrive at a Peruvian restaurant. I had called ahead to tell them we were coming and that we were all from Peru. We got the royal treatment and the food was great. We pretty much each ordered a different thing, and I think between Bill and Lisa there was one of each appetizer (for which we were all very thankful!). The food was great and the company even better. Incantation was true to it's culture and took an hour and a half to prepare the bill for us. It was about midnight when we finally rolled out of there. SATURDAY morning came bright and early and once again we hit the floor running. Jim, Doug and Darryl left at about 8:00 to pick up 2 wave runners and the rest of us left more like about 10:00 to meet them at Utah Lake. We had a GREAT day in the sun eating, laughing and trying not to fall off the wave runners into the cold water. Merrily and I went out together on one and had a blast, although we both had to admit that we are not nearly as adventurous as we used to be and were both glad that the other was just as set as we were not to fall. We all came home with more sun than we had expected to get---Doug with a good sized blister on the top of his foot. That night we made Lomo Saltado for supper and once again ate out side on the patio. The time that we spent together after supper was the most precious time of the whole weekend. We sat in our living room and laughed and cried while we shared with each other each of our live's journey since we left Peru 16 years ago. It was good to reinforce the bonds that we already have and to see the things that the Lord has taught each of us through good, and especially difficult times. We ended the night/started the morning (?) with prayer at 3:00am. It was a special time! It was good to get a glimpse into each person's life as it is now. As we all return to our niches in life I really wish that I could be a fly on the wall in each of your homes just to know you even better. I told Doug this afternoon at the airport that usually after being with friends from Peru, like at the Veinteiocho parties in Dallas or LA, I come away feeling so empty because while it was good to see people we didn't really connect. I have been trying to prepare myself for a long time for all of you leaving. Before you even got here I was sad because you were going to leave. And while tears were shed and I was sad to see our time come to a close I have to say that I don't feel the empty feeling this time and I'm sure it's because of those hours that we spent together Saturday night.
SUNDAY the exodus was started with Cheryl at noon. Bill and Lisa were next. Merrily was able to change her flight to Monday so that we could have one more evening together. Doug and Darryl moved over to our house from the hotel that night (Merrily was here the whole week end). Sonya and Roger will be here in the States for about 3 weeks total, camping and sight-seeking. MONDAY my whole family along with Doug and Darryl packed into our van and headed for Yellowstone (actually we stayed in Jackson Hole) and left Merrily and Rachel to be driven to the airport by one of my friends. Somehow it didn't seem right to leave her standing on our porch as we drove away.
Our time in Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole was great. Darryl and Doug, thank you again for your easy-going and helpful attitudes with my three boys! The condo we all stayed in was very nice and we wondered how we could get the whole class up there. Talk about logistics! We saw Old Faithful, went horse back riding, went on a covered wagon ride with a dinner included and swam in the pool. Thursday we came back home and ended that segment of our trip with fire works that night before Darryl left the next day. Jim was sweet enough to stay home with the boys while Doug, Darryl and I went to Temple Square and to Incantation one last time before taking Darryl to the airport. Andrew, my 11 month old, came down with some virus the day we came home from Jackson Hole so Friday night and Saturday Doug and Jim got to play---"The Truman Show", Kennecott Copper Mine, toured Jim's work and church this morning. We did get a baby sitter Saturday afternoon (the 4th) and took Scott and Steven miniature golfing. After lunch today I took Doug to the airport---our last airport run. And so ends 10 days of wonderful memories built with very special people---people who I don't want to lose touch with again!
Which brings me to our next reunion...I just don't want to retire my little red folder! Some of the thoughts and ideas that came up were that we want to get together for our 20th even though it's 4 years away instead of 5; possibly go to Peru when my folks leave for good in a couple years; get together next summer for el 28 de Julio since WBT is planning reunions at Waxhaw, Dallas, LA and Yarina---Waxhaw would probably be best for us. I'm sure there were other things that came up and I'm just not remembering them right now. We have time.
To those of you who called during the weekend, mailed or Emailed---thank you! You were thought of and your letters were shared around. To those of you who were here, thank you so much for your help in making the weekend run smoothly. I felt like it was a "class project"---you lifted any potential burden of organizing and shuttling 10 adults and 4 kids for four days. Believe it or not I'm a perfectionist and so your help was greatly appreciated! Thank you for being flexible. I can't wait until the next reunion and I look forward to trying to keep in touch better over the next few years than I have with most of you in the last 16! Email is a great thing!!
It's now 11:25pm and I really need to hit the hay! I loved the stationery that Dee wrote to us on, "You're special because we speak the same memories!" And then inside was I Samuel 23:18, "The two of them renewed their pact of friendship." It couldn't be said better.
You all are very special to me---whether you were here or not!
Truly because of Him---
for if it weren't for Him we wouldn't even know each other,
Becky