Some Reflections on My Day with Rachel

Well, okay, not my DAY. My several hours with Rachel and her adorable children C and LT (please see pictures below).

I think I remarked to Amy when we met that this kind of meeting is surreal for a very literary reason: reading blogs, IMing and e-mailing are textual and graphic. I've been reading the lives of these friends I've made over the Internet--though it's an interactive reading experience, and though our intimacy and connection are real, it's not like we see one another every day.

So when I met Amy, and when I met Rachel today in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, I felt like one might feel if Elizabeth Bennet stepped out of the pages of Pride and Prejudice and began walking down the lane with you and talking about the minutiae of life. It's surreal and wonderful: these people whose photographs I've seen, for whom I've prayed and with whom I have spoken almost daily (in Rachel's case), are living and breathing and grinning in front of me.

We had a wonderful time.

The moment I spotted Rachel and her two kids walking in my direction, I have to tell you that tears came to my eyes. When I looked at her and we hugged each other tightly, I felt like we were old friends who'd known one another forever, and this was just a reunion.

Yet one more thing that makes me long for heaven. I believe with all my heart that this was just a small demonstration of the recognition we will have of one another on That Day, even if we've never met before.