Funny meeting you here

So I have been spending every day down at Genesys Hospital, tending to my dad. We still don't know how things are going to go. We keep praying. But the unusual thing is how my dad's situation has brought some people into my life that I haven't thought of in years.

I graduated from Powers High School, the class of 1982. I don't know about you, but I have hardly kept in contact with anybody from high school. Life happens. Then my mom tells me that Jeannie is one of my dad's nurses. Jeannie is Lori's sister, an old friend from high school, and she also happens to work at Genesys. So the next day I see Lori again after almost 30 years. And guess what. She is married with six kids! (Lori also mentioned a few other Powers graduates from the class of '82 with big families. Paishann has six, while Jim and his wife have five.) Anyway, when this is all over with my dad, Lori and her husband and their brood are going to get together with us and ours.

It's hard for us to get together with other families. We can be overwhelming, and it's not really fair to split the cost of hamburgers or pizza when it's seven versus two. So we tend to socialize with other large families. It's not unusual for us to have four adults while 12 or 13 kids are making lots of noise. (That's why we always have wine with dinner.) Our friends with large families like to come over because they know our house is child-proofed and that we don't have breakables on display.

The only couple we know who like to come over even though they don't have kids is my best friend Rob and his wife Julie. They can't have kids of their own, so they come over to our house for a dose of activity. (Of course, they can always leave.) It also helps that they are godparents to two of our sons. This makes them family.

Anyway, it's funny how life has a way of separating people and bringing them together again.