CM Reunion - 2005/10/09 22:34
Wow! What a weekend! It's Sunday night, and I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight. This whole weekend has been absolutely fantastic. It's been the best CM reunion for me yet. That was probably partly because I was on the planning committee (kudos to Sandy Reume, Debbie Young, Dennis Gumaer, Kathy Walker, Deeann and Phil Tate, Dave Gedigian, and Loretta Cooper - they did such a great job. I mostly just gave moral support, being the much older and "senior" member of the group. They seemed to have unbounded energy. I hope I spelled your names correctly and didn't forget anyone.) But another reason is because of our ages I think. We're more settled about who we are (at least I am) and are more comfortable in taking some risks and opening up to people. I know I talked with a lot more people that I didn't know, and I really enjoyed meeting some of the spouses and some of the younger CMs from the years after 1969, my last year.
Friday night was so much fun. A highlight for me was seeing Charlyn Ellis for the first time in about 40 years. Charlyn's father, J.W. Ellis, was our pastor all through my childhood. I had thought about her so many times over the years and am thrilled she came for the reunion.
The memorial boards and memorabilia boards looked great and the scrapbooks are sill intact. Thank goodness for those scrapbooks. How else are we going to be able to verify what really happened on those tours? All of our memories don't exactly match now, but if it's written down in the scrapbooks, it must be true.
Saturday at Jan and Gary Morris' house was perfect. Since I had committed myself to attending the whole weekend, I was able to spend quality time with so many people. I've always mainly hung out with my close friends before, but this time I made a point of getting out of my shell and talking to new people. I loved it.
And today. Wow. We didn't sound half bad, and at the end of "Thank You, Lord" I felt like letting out a WHOOP! Susan Welch Armstrong can really wail. Dr. Jerry Porter's sermon was great (and I am not easily impressed). After lunch we couldn't say good-bye, so we met again downstairs in the Meguiar Youth Center and continued our visiting, even talking to Nancy Whitaker Cooper in North Carolina, who wasn't able to come out. It was hard to leave, so I decided to be one of the last ones out the door, and I was.
I feel so fortunate to have been a part of 1st Church (I have a hard time saying "Paz Naz" as a regular thing) as a teenager. I am grateful to a church that seemed to want to do anything for their young people. Our parents were pretty smart people!
Well, I've written a book it seems. Sorry if this is too long. I've been wanting something like this for the CMs for a long time so that we can stay connected and let each other know what's happening in our lives, good or bad. I think we have a very special bond and can use this to strengthen it. I know we all have times in our lives when we need people to pray for us. I'm going to take it upon myself to ask you to pray for some of us who have physical needs right now. I hope they don't mind. But we do all love each other, don't we? Please remember Grant Lee, Nancy Cooper, Wes Burger and his wife, and Ila Cloninger.
Nancy Urschel Reas
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