It was an awkward beginning...We met in 1997 in the musty old halls of Kings College Old Residence at The University of Western Ontario. Unfamiliar with our surroundings we quickly bonded over the fact that we were all away from home and on our own for the very first time. Looking for a friendly face to share the nervous feelings of our first year as freshman in University we stuck together like glue. Two of us were city girls and the other three were from little towns just outside of the city. Birthdays, road trips, holiday celebrations were shared and celebrated together especially when those special occasions were during exam periods or in the middle of a school week. My girls...we never missed each others big events throughout our entire university chapter of life.

Although we stayed in touch throughout those years,each one of us were heading towards different paths in education and soon after graduation we all differed in careers. One of us moved out to the States to pursue a business, another up to Ottawa to become a lawyer. Two of us immediately moved out of the city to pursue teaching careers while another moved back to her hometown to continue a post graduate certification. I too went my own way...deciding to work at the University for a few more years before moving to Australia for two years to continue a post graduate degree and ending up travelling g other 3 years teaching in Asia.

Time continued to pass us...our holidays, birthdays and other big events slowly dwindled from a phone call or card in the mail to a quick generic e-mail to all of us or a forward just to say 'hey'.

Then after a few 'I wonder how ______is doing' phone calls amongst a few of us made us all wonder what everyone was up to. A card was shortly recieved in the mail. It was an invitation to have a girls weekend up at a bed and breakfast in Orillia...just us girls...no significant others and certainly no worries about work. We all quickly RSVP'd and the reunion weekend soon approached. It had been almost a decade since we had all reunited together. One would think that it would have been awkward (and I must say it was for the first few minutes) but we slowly realized that nothing had changed except the paths we chose in life...we laughed and carried on as if there wasn't even a care in the world that weekend.

Our last day together was somber...the sun was just about to set and we were all sitting out on the dock just taking our last day in moment by moment...capturing every word spoken, holding on to every laugh we shared.

This picture was the last photo we took that evening...one that represents the unity of our friendship and how strong our bond is even after a decade. We have all been quite busy these last few years but the memories we shared that weekend have surely encouraged us to make an effort to make our reunions annual.

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