Gathering of friends and family

Pictures: Mark preaching, empty church, Micah Drexler singing, and friend, Faye Hopkins Bourne.

Well, today was the "big day." The beginning of a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary to Mt. Calvary Union Church. The family was gathered -- most of the living Drexler/Sbaraglia clan -- and so many friends joined us at church today.

My brother preached, I played the piano during the congregational singing, and Micah Drexler (my nephew) sang. And the service went long, but that was okay because we were having fun. At one point my brother was commenting on the fact that one of his "fold" in Goshen, IN told him ages ago that if he went too long in his sermon that he would stand up to let him know he was becoming long-winded. Well, Mark related that at the very beginning of his sermon. At which point, I stood up. It was good for a laugh, anyway. And maybe you had to be there.

Tomorrow we tour Downing school -- the school across the street -- and then we all head home. Such a joyful occasion, and now I feel the let down of the quietness hitting me. I want this time with family to last and last and last. A little taste of heaven, I guess.

It was wonderful to meet up with friends I hadn't seen for so many years and just laugh and, yes, cry together. My dear cousin, Joan, joined us. Joanie and I haven't seen each other since my mother's funeral over 20 years ago. But we've been facebooking and e-mailing for the last five or six years. I love modern technology. I never would have located her without real estate transfer listings. And so many of my friends from long ago were found via Facebook.

Won't it be wonderful to be with family and friends forever and NEVER GET TIRED! That was the big drawback this weekend, my being so tired. But I would do it again and again and again.
What a wonderful time. Wish my sis could have joined us.
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