Voyagers Redux

https://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2015/09/voyagers.html

Publishing the post directly above soon after our first Road Scholar vacation to Alaska in September 2015, I had little notion of how much fourteen of those thirty-seven voyagers would come to mean to my wife and me over the next several years. Which of you has shared my good fortune of connecting with a group like this? The last time I can remember meeting and enjoying this many people at once was during my undergraduate years. 

The sixteen of us had our first reunion a year later in Rocky Mountain National Park. In 2017, we met again in Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks; the third reunion was spent in the Pacific Northwest on the San Juan Islands. Last year we journeyed to Amelia Island as well as exploring the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. Our bond has deepened with each trip.

Had Covid-19 not interfered, right about now we would either be devouring delicious popovers at Jordan Pond, hiking up Cadillac Mountain, or traversing the carriage trails in Acadia National Park, my idea of heaven on earth. I'm disappointed missing the opportunity to spend time this year with my later-in-life soulmates.

But, even though we'd already decided we are Acadia-bound in 2021, none of us wanted to wait two years in between interactions. Hungry for an intellectual injection, we convened a virtual meeting - ZOOM to the rescue - to discuss James McBride's stunning novel The Good Lord Bird. It didn't take the place of being together but, no surprise, the conversation was as rich as any I've ever had with a group. The unanimous verdict at the conclusion? More virtual book discussions between now and reunion #5 next Fall. It would be difficult to over-state how much these voyagers have brought to my life.