My trip home to Fort Myers for Thanksgiving was lots of fun, as it always is. The food was great and it was good to spend time with family and friends. I had to leave around 6am this morning in order to make it back for the "Preparing for Advent" retreat that one of the other deacons and I designed for today. It was well attended and I believe people got good things out of it - lots of time for personal reflection, prayer, and meditation. I, however, found my mind wandering, as it is so often wont to do when presented with silence. I think the combination of the flurry of activities going on in my life right now, lack of sleep last night, and an unexpected encounter produced the anxiety which prevented me from fully engaging the spiritual dimensions of the half-day reteat.

I went out last night with my friends Lauren and Sarah for a fun evening of hanging out and catching up. We met at the Cigar Bar, a local joint in downtown Fort Myers which seems to be a good place to gather. Often times I'll see people there I haven't seen in a while, and last night was no different. Lauren saw someone she knew from across the bar and called her over. When the young lady made introductions to me, I remembered her from high school days - I think she was a year ahead of me. Anyway, she, at one point, said, "I'm waiting here for my friends W and K to show up." Calling to mind the crowd with whom she ran in H.S., I asked, "W and K who?" She told me and I laughed, having gone to middle school and high school with these two, but not having seen them since. After a while, they showed up, we hugged and talked for a while, telling each other what we were all up to these days. It turns out W lives in NYC now and is an Assistant Editor for the Oprah magazine - no small shakes there! K is married, as of 7 months ago or so, and loving it. I met her husband and he seemed very nice. We laughed about some old times and then parted ways. I always find such meetings enjoyable - I think it is very interesting to discover what others are doing nowadays, where they are, what path they took in life, and so on. In high school, there was such a proliferation of petty b.s. that we so rarely got to know more than a handful of people to any degree of depth and I enjoy being able to put that kind of thing in the past, and moreover, I enjoy seeing the others do the same and taking delight in it. So, to W and K, and to all the rest of you out there that I haven't seen in ages and didn't really know all that well back in the day anyway, best of luck to you. To quote BrotherBeal, "I'm rooting for you."

-R