East Coast US May 2025

Sally and I went to the US in May for not one, but two of my school reunions while David was cycling through Italy (There were actually THREE, but my schedule and brain could only handle two). The first weekend was my 20-year UPenn vet school reunion, and the following weekend was my 30-year high school reunion, so we spent the week between visiting various east coast friends.

We arrived to a torrential downpour (I actually had to pull over because visibility was so poor) but then spent a chill night settling in at Uncle Big Steve’s in Leesburg, where we got to meet his lovely new girlfriend, DeeDee. DeeDee and Sally definitely hit it off, and Sally’s rocked DeeDee’s braids for the next day at my reunion.

Saturday we drove up through classic lovely (not) traffic to west Philadelphia. In spite of the traffic, we were able to enjoy the stunning green countryside/horse country of southeastern PA/Delaware.

The official reunion was at main campus in Philadelphia and was absolutely underwhelming. Only six of us were there from our class, and there was really only a brief speech by the dean and some lunch, so Brian Palmeiro gave us a private tour (since he still does some work there), and it was fun to remember where we’d sat in anatomy or histology, etc. I even got to show Sally the room where I had the free pizza that changed the course of my life (first year of vet school there was a free pizza lunch if you came to hear Eric Davis tell us about RAVS - so I ate pizza, signed up for RAVS in North Dakota that summer, which resulted in Delilah and my future mentor (Eric) and inspired me to move to CA and the rest is history…). That classroom is now a lounge/breakroom, and looks too small to ever have held 110 of us for lectures!

Saturday afternoon Sarah Reuss and I had planned a friend-reunion, graciously hosted at Luke and Lauren Jones’ gorgeous home in Kennett Square. It was perfect. There were about 30 of us, including kids ranging from 4 to 17 years of age. Kids enjoy the pool, zipline, treehouse, trampoline, volleyball net, etc. while we classmates caught up on life—jobs, travel, perimenopause, sandwich generation challenges, you name it. They’re the kind of friends that it’s easy to fall into deep conversation with pretty quickly, or just enjoy a laugh about some silly story from 20 years ago.

Sally and I spend the night there, and enjoyed a lovely chill morning with Sarah and Luke before heading to meet Jim and Toni Orsini for a visit. They treated us to a delicious lunch and meander at Longwood Gardens, which I had last been to for the holiday lights in 2013 with my parents, brother and fam, and 3-month-old Sally in a Baby Björn. Jim then graciously gave us a tour of New Bolton Center, which I’d not been to in at least 10 years, and Sally had never seen. She found the orthopedic recovery pool particularly fascinating!

From there we drove through Amish country to Mechanicsburg. Having grown up near the Amish, I forgot how startling it is to see them anew. Sally was agog. That night we had a great dinner with Kelli and family and Molly, before crashing there for the night.

On Monday Sally and I drove down to Hume, VA (with an impromptu stop at Michael’s Craft store) to spend two nights with Sarah (Auntie Ducky) and Daniel. The following days of the trip Sally was basically first at “Camp Sisu” (Sisu is the name of Ducky and Daniel’s farm) followed by Camp Reiss (with Catherine and Jon). There was horseback riding and bathing, animal care, archery, arts and crafts, escape room, strawberry picking, indoor sky-diving, board games, you name it. 

Monday afternoon we hit the ground running with horseback riding then basket-wearing donkey-walking (see photo if that is unclear!) and of course trying on Ducky's many beautiful hats and heels. Monday evening, Sarah, Daniel, Sally, and I met up with John and Gaby in Warrenton for dinner. It was wonderful to see them, as always, in spite of life’s recent challenges, though we failed to get a group photo. 

Tuesday Sally and I joined her baby-hood friend Ava and her brother Owen and mom Alicia at the WARF pool (where they had their first baby swim classes!). Even though it had been FOUR years since we’d all seen each other, it was like no time had passed and it was terrific to spend time with them. We’re still trying to convince them to come visit Ireland.

Tuesday afternoon at Camp Sisu Sally and Ducky washed horses, braided manes, and played with the doggers (Frannie and Archie) and ducks while I had some work phone calls. Then we had s’mores over a camp fire, honed (or created) our archery skills, and enjoyed watching the sun go down with a glass of rosé from the barn swing. It was delightful and Sisu Farm is just all-around gorgeous.

On Wednesday the weather went a bit south so Ducky, Sara Lieser, and I enjoyed some coffee in the sun room while Sally painted a portrait of the dogs then the four of us went for a walk with Frannie and Archie and at the VA Arboretum, where Sally and I (and various Sara(h)s/Catherine) had enjoyed many walks with dogs when Sally was a baby/toddler. Afterwards, we went back to Sara and Eric’s, who are in the midst of remodeling in order to sell their beautiful farm because they are moving to Boulder this summer! We walked to the bus stop to pick up Zack and Hannah and randomly got to meet a very friendly farmer neighbor and his lambs along the way. The kids trampolined for about 2 hours then we headed into Winchester for dinner at a lovely wine bar - Sara, Ducky, Catherine, Elsa, Sally, and me! Sally and Elsa were thrilled to be re-united and it was a perfect venue to have a proper chat. The waiter even made edible bubbles for the girls, which none of us had before seen. 

Wednesday and Thursday nights we crashed with the Reiss fam, and even got the charming Thomas the cat to snooze with us. Thursday morning was quiet then Sally and I headed off to Leesburg meet up with Luis, Alison, and three amazing kiddos, and Teresa, her lovely mom, and Teresa and Conor’s gorgeous new baby girl. We had a fun lunch then hung out at the playground and it was so special that they all took off work to visit with us!

Thursday night was a chill evening with delicious home-made pizza with the Reiss family, then Friday morning Sally, Catherine, one dog (of three!), and I went for a delightful walk along the Shenandoah River before I headed off to Pennsylvania for my high school reunion. Sally stayed with the Reiss family and had the best weekend of her life: milk shakes, Mexican food, 80’s-themed escape room (Friday night); 5-K fun run, indoor sky diving, playing Clue (Saturday); picking strawberries and making strawberry shortcake (Sunday); not to mention playing with all the cute animals and just being thrilled to all be together.

Meanwhile I was off in PA catching up with Molly/Rebecca/Kelli/Robin at a sweet little airbnb in Boiling Springs on the Yellow Breeches. We took lots of walks, ate salads (even at midnight), and perused our yearbooks. Our time together is always pretty magical and rejuvenating for the soul. On Saturday night we hosted our 30-year high school reunion (Robin did 90% of the work!) at a wine bar in Carlisle with live music and a food truck and it went well…Our last reunion was the 10th and we actually got kicked out of the bar because of a fight so this one was much less dramatic. About 35 various classmates showed up (out of 310) and people were friendly and keen to tell their stories. I think most of those who have moved far away didn’t come, so many who were there still see each other regularly, or have kids who play sports together. There were a few shocking appearances but mostly it was all what one might expect, and there were just a couple of people with whom I was truly delighted to catch up.