A Big Bang of a Reunion

The nicest thing about the weekend was the reunion with the people.
We drove to North Carolina Friday to participate in the Fourth Final Budfest hosted by Dean and Anna Hinson and Bob and Sue Willson. Bob and Sue have been friends since we first moved to West Chester almost 30 years ago. Anna is their daughter, and I performed her marriage to Dean several years ago. The Hinsons live in Seagrove, NC, on Bud Lane (hence the name "Budfest") not far from Asheboro, and the Willsons live in Pittsboro, NC, not too far from there.

Many autumns Bob and his fellow pyrotechnics (Bob is a licensed fireworks shooter) invite all their friends and neighbors to a giant potluck with a magnificent fireworks finale on the acreage the Hinsons own. It's a low-key, down-home event, complete with a wonderful bluegrass band. Bob has said several times that he was doing this for the final time this year (thus the "Fourth Final" label), so we decided we'd better go experience what we've heard so much about for years.
We enjoyed the weekend very much. The food was wonderful. The fresh air and crisp autumn evening were invigorating. Exploring an orchard outside of Asheboro and several of the potteries in Seagrove was enjoyable (and gave us some stuff to bring home), and the drives through scenic highways in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and the Appalachian Highway in Ohio were beautiful.

Rita and Wendell Dunn were two of the
Christ's Church at Mason friends who
trekked to Seagrove for Budfest.

But the best thing about the weekend was the people.
We arrived after 6:00 Friday night to find two or three carloads of friends from Christ's Church at Mason who were graciously waiting for us to arrive so we could go to dinner with them.
Most of them were there Saturday morning for breakfast at the Fairfield Inn where we all stayed. And with them, Ron and Linda Ford (former Christ's Church at Mason members, and I worked with Linda at Standard Publishing) and Allen and Sharon Lennon (also fellow church members before they moved away) as well as Bob and Sue. We ate and laughed and table hopped and enjoyed much of the morning together.
After doing some sightseeing in the area we got to Anna and Dean's house after 4:00 in time for the pot luck supper at 4:30. It was great to see Anna and Dean in their element and to give big hugs to Jim and Annie Willson--Jim and our Jen grew up together here. Jim and Annie had driven up from their home in Florida for the big event. And John and Heather Turner arrived in time to visit with so many of us who had worked together with them at the Mason church almost two decades ago.

Sharon and Allen, former fellow church
members in Mason, drove from
their home in Florida for the party.

After the fireworks (and these fireworks were as good as any you've ever seen--a 28-minute show beautifully coordinated with a wonderful sound track), we gathered around a camp fire. After awhile we retreated to the lobby of the Fairfield where a bunch of us sat and drank the hotel's decaf coffee and visited till almost 11:00.
I'm thinking there will be meals together in heaven, and a wonderful reunion with friends and family we've known in many circles in this life--laughter and talking and sharing memories. And maybe something as good as, or even better than, fireworks.

We drove through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. The most beautiful trees were along one stretch of the Appalachian Highway in Ohio, but I was driving then and didn't get a picture! But many of the highways through the mountains offered beautiful vistas.