To my surprise, an event last Friday brought more than a few tears to my eyes.  There was a mini geTOGether at my friend, Corrine's house.  Another TOGger friend, Beth, drove about 3 hours to meet us.  All TOGether there were 3 moms and 13 kids!  We had a blast!  I met them a couple of years ago through my TOG yahoo group.  (TOG is our incredible history curriculum through which I've met many wonderful people!)  I met Corrine in the group while they were overseas.  We were thrilled to meet face to face after they moved to Texas.  Our families have had wonderful times together, she and I sewed a quilt together, and her husband performed my husband's retirement ceremony.  We got to meet Beth face to face for the first time at the Dallas geTOGether a year ago!  

     We had never met Beth's kids before, but I had heard a lot about them, especially her one boy.  Beth was planning a vacation to Virginia, nearly identical to ours, last Sept.  Since we went the month before, she asked lots of questions and showed pictures from my blog entries to her kids.  In fact, when we first met on Fri, her son said of us, "They look familiar."  lol  Anyway, when he saw the pictures of Benedict Arnold at Colonial Williamsburg  on my blog, he got *angry*!!!!  He did not like that traitor!  After their trip to Colonial Williamsburg, Beth told us that he chewed out Benedict Arnold to his face during Revolutionary City!  Our hearts stopped when we heard that! 

     Well, this young man is a few years younger than my son and seemed to be quite taken with him.   At lunch, they sat next to each other.  I sat across from them, inbetween two of Corrine's older daughters.  We had the best time listening to the two of them talk.  In fact, he had me in stitches for most of the day! (For ease and protection of identity, I am going to dub Beth's son, "friend" and my son "ds".) 

friend-What school do you go to?

ds-I'm homeschooled, just like you.

friend-WOW!  You are? 

ds-Of course, all of us here at the table are homeschooled.

friend-WOW!  That's incredible!!!!!

ds-That's how our mom's met, because of homeschooling.

friend-They did?????

     Beth said she doesn't tell her kids everything because then she has to answer a million questions.  I can relate!  I keep information from my kids sometimes for the very same reason!)

     Then Beth's son started asking about our summer vacation and he was shocked that we did the same things they did! He kept saying, "Wow! We did that too!" 

     After lunch I overheard Beth's son ask my son if he could call him _______________________.  This is the name of a famous American Revolution hero who shares the same first name as my son.  I never heard the response. 

     Then we were getting ready to go to the base.  Corrine and I were going to split Beth's family between us to ride in our vans, because we had military ID cards and she didn't. While waiting for alllllll the kids to be ready to go, Beth's son came to me and asked if my son could ride with them in their van.  I told him that they would ride with one of us since his mom didn't have an ID card.  That puzzled him so I suggested he ask his mom if he could ride with us.  He excitedly asked his mom and got permissson.  His older brother, about a year younger than my son, came with us too. 

     While coordinating all of this, I could have sworn I heard Beth's son ask in amazement, "How did your son learn all that math?"

   There was more funny conversation to overhear in the van.  Let's see what I remember. Hmmmmm, after discussion about something, I heard Beth's son incredulously say, "WOW!  You must be a scientist!"  My son said, "No, their labs blow up."  (My son and I recently discussed this. One night a few weeks ago, my son was going on and on and on about the Science Question of the Week, which he usually gets correct.  (My son's goal in life is to get a law degree, join the USAF JAG corps, then become President of the United States.  After serving two terms, he thinks he'll relax and become an actor/interpreter for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.)  Due to all this, I asked what his favorite subject in school was.  He said science.  I asked why did he want to become a lawyer if his favorite subject is science.  He said he enjoys labs that have already been conducted hundreds of times quite safely. He would never concoct a new experiment to discover something new.  What if something blew up?  Well, I'm glad to hear that I don't have to worry about any explosions around the house!  Nevertheless, I think he's watched too much "Monkey Business" with Cary Grant and Ginger Rogers.

     The kids enjoyed the playground. 

     They especially enjoyed that it was across from the flightline.  While driving there, we even get to drive across a portion of the flightline.  I told the boys to watch for planes for me so we wouldn't hit one.  When they saw one of the small fighter jets fly overhead, they were really impressed!  I was able to capture a picture of one of the bigger planes.

     Corrine's girls and I had great conversations too.  While in the kitchen they were asking me which books I've read that make me cry.  Hmmmmm, I had to think about that one.  I still am!  I've been so busy getting ready for the move that I couldn't even remember any books I've read.  They threw out some titles.  That helped. Where the Red Fern Grows They agreed with that. This seemed silly, but I told them every time I read a biography on Lafayette, I start to cry when I come to the end of his life.  I have to start a new biography to get happy again. (In fact, the biography I've been reading got packed by the packers yesterday. I have left Lafayette in December of 1780.  I hope to savor Yorktown this summer.) Oh they could relate!  Then at the lunch table, the girls started talking to me about great movies.  We had so much fun. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit that I was so exhausted from all the moving prep I had been doing in the last month, that it was nice to just sit there and chit chat with the girls, instad of helping in the kitchen as much as I should have.     

     At dinner time there was more great conversation.  We all sat in the same places and the girls and I were once again laughing.  I don't remember everything now.  Let's see, Beth's son asked my son if he played soccer.  My son thought a moment and said, "No, I don't play professional soccer." 

     The best part was when Corrine's husband came home, in uniform.  Beth's son's eyes got huge!  He exclaimed with enthusiasm I have never before seen in a child, "W-O-W! He's a real military man!!!!!!"  The girls and I loved it!  I have learned something about Beth's son, after she told me a story about his talking to a soldier.  He is a huge fan of those in the armed forces.  However, beware of anyone who decides to become a turncoat like Benedict Arnold.  

     About that time I realized we had to go.  We said our goodbyes, and I started to get teary eyed.  It was certainly a day of mixed tears...joy and sadness.  I will miss these two friends and their wonderful kids!