A Georgia Girl in Germany

One of my favorite traditions while visiting my parents is getting together with my best friend, Megan. We met when we were 13 (when my dog bit her in the face), and we’ve been best friends since. Over the years, as I moved around the country, we’ve always managed to find a way to meet up on a regular basis. That's easier to do now that my parents have retired to Delaware since she lives just a short hop away outside of Philly. The only difficulties we’ve had is coordinating and juggling the demands of our increasing broods.
What’s been nice when we get together is that our daughters (who are only 9 days apart in age) act like long-lost best friends, even though they haven’t seen each other since one day the previous summer. I never would have imagined it when Megan and I first met nearly 22 years ago!! As you can tell from the photos, MacKenzie and Lauren are typical 8-year-old girls.

Of course, I can't leave out the other four kiddos, so here's our attempt at corralling both of our active broods: Zachary, Bridget, Jacob, Benjamin, Lauren and MacKenzie…
It would be an official get-together without a photo of Megan and me. We usually take the photo ourselves, best-guessing at what will appear in the frame as one of us holds the camera at arm’s length pointing back at us, but since MacKenzie is my budding photographer she was behind the lens this year.Somehow I managed to not get a decent shot of Megan's husband Dave, but hat's off to him for his work on developing the cervical cancer vaccine! Yes, he’s on the Merck team that worked on that project. Thanks Dave!!

Labels: Benjamin, MacKenzie, Stateside visits, Zachary