Today is the day that Bev is reunited with her Australian friend, Denise, after last seeing her 22 years ago. Denise came to the US in the 1980's for two years while her dad worked near Columbia, Maryland. Bev and Denise hit it off right away and stayed in touch until around ten years ago. Denise found Howie on the Classmates website a few years back, and then she and Bev reconnected. When we added Australia to the itinerary, we knew a visit to Denise would be a must.

Bev woke up really excited, and we got ready quickly and headed down to the lobby where the reunion was set to happen. As soon as Bev laid eyes on her old friend, she recognized her. It was great to meet Denise after all these years of hearing stories about their time together. Denise had taken the day off from work, along with her husband, Al, and they brought their three-year-old son, Lachlan. We all jumped into the car and headed out to one of the beach areas in Sydney, Coogee, where we caught up along the water and grabbed "city food," as Lachlan says, for lunch.

Al and I hit it off right away, and Lachy was sweet, so it was a pretty smooth first meeting. Next, we left Coogee to travel back to Denise's home in Springwood. We headed about an hour outside of Sydney to the Blue Mountains, so named due to the slight tinge of blue the mountains take on due to the eucalyptus gases released from the trees.

We arrived at Denise's home and marveled at being in a right proper house. It felt so good just to be in someone's home, with toys, a backyard, and all the touches that make a place cozy. We spent the afternoon getting acquainted, and Denise made us a delicious home-cooked dinner. We were in heaven.

We brought some presents and spent time after dinner opening them. We hung out in the living room by the fire, watched some TV, reminisced, and got to know Lachy. He is a great kid, and Denise and Al are fun, so we had a great night hanging out.

Denise is pregnant, and early the next day, she had an ultrasound appointment and Al went to work, so Bev and I hung out in the house and spent time on the Internet to start planning the next leg of the trip. When Denise got home, Lachy announced that they just learned that the new baby will be a sister. Denise and Lachy called her parents, and when Denise asked Lachy to tell them the big news they had, he said in an excited voice, "I've got....I've got...I've got....Beverly and Sean in my house!" It was really cute, and we were honored to take top billing in the news department.

Later that day we went on a quick walk in the Mountains and then off to a lookout before heading back and bringing in Thai for dinner with everyone, including Denise's parents.

It was a fabulous night, and we enjoyed dinner, conversation, and play time with Lachy almost until midnight. When she was leaving the house, Denise's mom said that she looks fondly back on her time in the US and very much appreciates all the people from the old block. We wished Bev's parents were there to hear her heartfelt words (that were much more eloquent than what I just typed).

The next morning, we had an early flight to Cairns, and Al, Denise, and Lachy saw us off. The nice thing in Australia is that friends and family can still go through security and get to the gate without tickets, so the whole gang went through and walked us right to our gate for a sad farewell.

Bev and Denise had picked up right where they left off, and the men they brought into the picture didn't gum up the works. :) We were sad to say goodbye, but we're looking forward to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.