My Favorite Friends from College and our Reunion in Destin

I am out of town and I posted this in advance. But I am adding this.

What I posted for Sightseeing Saturday is about my first reunion with my classmates in College, my very close friends. Today I got a call from one of them because something very sad and tragic just happened. I would like to request all of you to pray for my classmate, Emilie and her family. Her 28 year old son, Patrick, had a seizure in bed last night around 10 PM and he was rushed to the hospital but did not even make it there alive. Patrick is not sick and this was the first time he's experienced a seizure, that is why we are all shocked and the family understandably is devastated. It was very hard for me to hear Emilie bawling on the phone because she is a very fun loving gal. The whole family needs our prayers. PLEASE join me in praying for them and I thank you.

Let's go to the beach! Isn't that a good idea in this really hot and humid weather? Well, at least that is how it is in this part of the country.

I am linking with Beverly for Pink Saturday at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

The trip I am sharing with you is my reunion with my BFF's in College. Yes, they were my favorite friends when we were in College gazillion years ago and they still are. Therefore, I am linking with Laurie for a Few of My Favorite Things at http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

We called ourselves The Spooks!!

It was summer when we had the reunion in a summer beach location so I am linking with the Tablescaper for Summer Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

There are 7 of them: Elsie, Emily, Gatchie, Jazmine, Lyla, Nel and Tess, all equally wonderful, sweet, compassionate, fun loving, responsible and have a great love for God and family. There were more of us when we were in College but some still reside in the Philippines and some, we have lost contact with. These were my friends when we were still in College studying to be Medical Technologists, now also known as Clinical Laboratory Scientists. If you do not know what that is, we are the ones testing your blood and body fluids so that physicians can diagnose you clinically.

After we all graduated, I came over to US and 3 of them proceeded to go to the College of Medicine and became physicians. Now, we are all spread apart in the US except for one who resides in Canada but we still communicate via email and occasional get togethers.


They all flew in and attended my youngest daughter, Tina's wedding. This is part of my Pink Sat. contribution. Tina's wedding colors were champagne, brown and dusty rose so my gown had pink beads on the top. Elsie's wearing a pink shawl too.

From L to R:

Nel, Elsie, me, Emilie, Gatchie, Jazmine, Lyla, Tess

The first time we had a reunion since College was in 2003. That was 33 years after graduation. We've been having one every year or every other year since.

I am sharing the very first one with you. This was the most memorable in my opinion. I am sure most of them will agree. We rented a beach house in Destin but we all met at my daughter's home in the Tampa Bay area. I rented a mini van that can sit 8 people but trying to fit all the luggage for 8 people was the real challenge. We had to buy a canvas luggage carrier to put above the van to carry the excess baggage. Gatchie who is the most energetic and now an Internal Medicine doctor, is the one organizing the stuff on top of the van.

The ride did not seem long because we had so much fun and all you could hear inside the van was laughter and music.

Below is the beach house. It is a duplex and we occupied the right side. It had a bedroom with a queen size bed and a loft with 2 full size beds and a sofa bed in the living room. The nice thing about it was it was right on the beach. You go down from the stairs and step right into sand. We could hear the waves of the water from the house and it was so relaxing especially when it was time to go to bed.

We took early morning walks on the beach.


and enjoyed the breathtaking view from the balcony!

The buildings around us were all tall condominiums.

I was the organizer and I had activities lined up every minute of the day. Of course that included relaxation, shopping and bonding time too. We played Guesstures and Scrabble.

We went on a dolphin watch cruise. See the dolphins?

It was a lot of fun!

That's Jazmine under the Jaws. She makes us laugh! LOL! Just thinking about her puts a smile on my face.

We had a karaoke contest and I won it. Yipee! My price was a Coach purse.

Shown below is Nel doing the Limbo rock while Emilie, who studied to be a Pathologist and is working as a Cytologist now, held the stick. Emilie is someone who is very loving, very motherly and is an excellent homemaker. She cooks for us and is always cleaning and straightening up the house.

We lounged in our PJ's a lot and that was part of the fun.

Jazmine taught us how to hula and belly dance and it was so hilarious. I couldn't take still photos cause I was dancing with them but we have videos.

We ate a lot! I mean, A LOT!

But we also exercized a lot, and swam or just soaked in the beach water.

Doing a head stand is Nel. She is the most girly girl among us, so reserved, so lady like.

It did not matter what time it was. We would just go to the beach whenever we felt like it.

The more fortunate ones treated us to dinner.

And Tess, the facial expert shown here with Lyla, the Anaesthesiologist, gave free facials. Tess also is our joke teller. All she has to do is open her mouth and she can keep us laughing in stitches.

We ate at Fuddpuckers. See the colorful building? It has a lot of pink so more pink contribution here.

And at night before we would turn into our own beds, we would just all stay together and bond. Oh what fun times! I love you guys and I miss you! When is our next reunion?

I hope you enjoyed our sightseeing for today. Thanks a lot for coming.

And thanks to all our hostesses for faithfully hosting these fun memes week after week after week.