Mid-Atlantic Reunion

I couldn't sleep that night.... I tossed and turned, opened and closed my eyes, but no shut eyes. Ah, tomorrow is a big day, a day of rekindling the past and looking forward to an exciting day of fun and laughter with my co-nightingales.
My husband and I left our house at about 10:30 in the morning to go to 9 Runkle Place in New Jersey. It will take us 2 1/2 hours to go to the important site of the reunion. Everything was a smooth ride until exit 17 going to Flor's house was closed because of constructions.She did not realize that all the nightingales were going to exit that part of New Jersey to go to her house. She forgot to warn us! Well, we finally found our way but some didn't. Poor Mahgene and Luis, they had to call over and over again before they can find the place. Oh ,we had a lot of fun because of that!!
The big surprise for me was that, as soon as I opened the door, the big smiling face of Rachel suddenly appeared in front of me. I didn't know if I was in the right house, whether I was in Texas or New Jersey? You see, I was planning to meet Rachel in Texas for a mini reunion in June and I didn't expect to see her in New Jersey. Oh, if you could only hear the shoutings and wailing of everyone. I think that we were the loudest in the neighborhood.
Each nightingale arrived one by one, and each time one arrived, further shouting and laughing could be heard, one louder than the other. It was very chaotic!!! Finally our food arrived, delivered by two sweet nightingales named Cecile and Chato F. You see, we ordered our banquet feast from Filipino restaurants in New Jersey. Smart idea, right? Ruth brought crabs from MARYLAND which I enjoyed tremendously, the others brought champagne and Rachel brought kielbasa sausages from the great state of Texas(yi-hah) Oh, what fun!!
We formed a circle, alphabetical manner of course , from Adamos to Salazar, we prayed for the delicious food and friendship and began eating. We had plenty of food to go around, I forgot my healthy diet for one day and just enjoyed every moment with all these wonderful 14 nightingales including some of our husbands. You see, our husbands did not eat with us, they had their own separate group and they seemed to be enjoying each others company.
We discussed a lot of things while eating. We talked about our health, our state of minds , our menopausal stages and who had colonoscopy etc, etc. Most of all, we talked about how to keep our marriage lives alive and vibrant. One nightingale commented that she read a journal that we have to do it 3 times a day(you know what) to be healthy. Others said that they were not interested about it anymore, others were just too tired to do it that much. We all laughed so hard and we kept on reminding each other about 3 times a week, 3 times a week in each and every conversation. One husband who was videotaping us was getting embarrassed of our conversation
and said that the video was getting R-rated.
Aside from having a lot of fun, we also did in-service training so that a lot of nightingales can participate in the blog. The reunion became an educational training for some of us and became very exciting and informative experience. I can assure you that more nightingales will participate in the blog from now on.
At about 9 p.m. , we had a champagne toast for good health and good camaraderie. We cheered for class'78 and that we are going to do it again in the future. I had to leave at almost 10 p. m. but the rest of the nightingales had a pajama party, just like the good old days.
All in all, it was a successful party. Thanks everyone for coming, I enjoyed every minute of it and looking forward for the next MID-ATLANTIC REUNION in the future!!!!