"We'll be friends till we're old and senile. Then we'll be new friends!"

The day after Christmas I hosted a small, memory-filled gathering. Abbie, Diana and I are friends from the earliest of times. When we are able to get together, which is very infrequently (I will explain why in a moment) we are transported back in time. It could be the early 70's and we are sitting around a table at the Hollywood Restaurant with a pitcher of Coke and a pepperoni pizza sitting between us - "Rocket Man" and "Maggie May" playing in the background. It happens every time.

While Diana and I live near each other, we don't get together nearly as often as we should. Abbie however, has not lived nearby in decades. Over the years she has traveled the world, first as a Peace Corps volunteer, and most recently as a UN employee. She has just wrapped up a five-year stint in Liberia and is home visiting her father before venturing on to her new post in Kabul, Afghanistan. I told her that this seems a bit "out of the frying pan and into the fire" to me. Abbie has been posted to Kabul before, so this is not new territory. What a life she has lived.

Having just returned from Liberia we naturally had questions for her regarding the ebola outbreak. Abbie said that even though she lived in Liberia, the only people she ever saw with ebola were on the TV. She did go through CDC screening upon entering our country, and was actually called by a representative as we were chatting. They will call her every day for 21 days, monitoring her temperature and overall health. I guess that I am glad that there is such a procedure in place.

Bruce picked up a couple of Hollywood pizzas for us, so we kept with tradition a bit as we spent a few hours catching up with each other's lives. We marveled on how we are closing in on 60; how ours bodies seem to change every day; how our memories are not quite what they used to be! 

A lot changes and a lot stays the same - friendship being one of those constants. It was great to spend an afternoon with you both!