Reunion

In 1996, Molli and I met some people that we quickly realized would be defined as lifelong friends. As a married couple with a three-month old, we moved to Prague. It was a career move for both of us: a job transfer for me and a new job for Molli – stay at home Mom.

On the first day In my office I met Shawn. She and Dominic had just arrived from Houston. It’s funny that we had to travel 5,000 miles to meet when we could have taken a drive to their Houston home and gotten there before lunch. They were recently married and both accountants (insert your favorite pocket protector joke here!).

Carol, from Seattle, was my buddy at the office and lunch partner on many days. And I always wondered how she learned her base of Czech words so quickly. Although she could have been faking it. I never would have known.

Carol’s new best friend in Prague was Barbara. Barbara really took to Tate and always sought him out when we were together. She was from St. Louis and Denver and also new in town. Our first dinner out in Prague, Barbara held Tate so we could eat. I would have liked her anyway, but that sealed the deal.

Over the next two years our group would travel, celebrate Thanksgiving together, and just hang out. It was a new family. Molli and I never anticipated that when we set out. Instead, we were focused on our own desires – seeing as much of Europe as possible or padding the resume. Little did we realize that the time would be fleeting. The trips would be over, the work completed. In a brief two years it was time for everyone to return home. But the friendships would be the most lasting.

This past weekend our family made the 200 mile trek to Houston to say farewell to Shawn, Dominic and their three great kids. A new adventure awaits them in Singapore, where they will be for a few years. Carol and Barbara were able to persuade their husbands to be full-time Mom and Dad for the weekend so they could also give a personal bon voyage to them as well. So, for the first time in about a dozen years we were all together again. And it was a blast. And not long enough.

Ironically, as I write this, I am on a plane bound for Prague. Our family has been planning this trip for a couple of years now. It’s just a coincidence that we are going 72 hours after seeing our Prague friends. I’m sure many changes will have occurred in Prague since we were residents there. That’s to be expected from a country that was smothered for so long by the Iron Curtain. I’m looking forward to showing our kids where we lived and the places we went. But most of all, I imagine there will be some long forgotten memories that will come back to us.

And I anticipate that a lot of those memories will include our friends we just saw at the reunion.