Yesterday I hung out in commercial eateries

Yesterday was one of those days when everything ends up on the same day. I organised to meet up with a friend from my teenage years then the ladies from my Bible study wanted to have a farewell lunch for me. Finally my "oldest" friend was free for a "see you later" coffee in the afternoon.

Most of them read this blog, so I have to be careful of what I say!

Firstly I met this friend, who I didn't go to school with, but we learned piano together for many years. Our teacher had a somewhat unique system where she taught many children at the same time. Each of her students attended two 1.5 hours lessons each week. One of those was an individual lesson, but in the presence of up to a dozen others. When you weren't being taught one-on-one you either did theory at the large billiard-sized-table or were sent to one of the two "back rooms" to practice a particular passage, piece or scales. The other 1.5 hour lesson was a group one. We were grouped into similar music grade levels and often ended up "out the back" hearing each other's scales or other exercises. Our teacher was something of a dragon and you daren't even yawn, let alone talk to fellow students. As a result, I never really knew much about my fellow students, even though I saw them often. So, yesterday I didn't know what to expect from our time together, but 20 years on, we actually found heaps to talk about - our children, husbands, life experiences, photos and even a little bit of reminiscing time! We've resolved to get together again in less than 20 years time, and hopefully include one other friend who is the same age as us and was a part of those group lessons too. This has all come about through Facebook, by the way! Otherwise we'd totally lost contact. Yah for Facebook.

I went from that to lunch with some far more recent friends. These ladies are associated with a local church that we'd previously visited, but not spent much time at. This home assignment we've spread ourselves between two "home churches" (when we've had free Sundays). The fortnightly Bible Studies I joined in on with these ladies have been refreshing. Not just what we studied, but because the ladies themselves were willing to be real - to share their various struggles and not pretend that "I'm okay thanks" as we often reply when people ask.

Finally I had coffee with this friend I've had all my life and who I've already blogged about here. This was our last meeting for a couple of years, but we didn't say "Goodbye" just, "See you later".

I came home feeling a bit rung out, yet happy. God has blessed me tremendously over the years with so many friends.