I was sitting in our family room recliner at 9:08 p.m., reading a book about No Child Left Behind in preparation for the next day’s Morning Show while Kathy relaxed on the sofa, watching Frasier, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. . .  and Kathy pretended to be as surprised as I was at the sound.   “Maybe one of my Godspell guys left something here,” I called out as she went to answer the door.

The next thing I know,  J.D. Strauss – a former student of mine, who now lives on the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia – is coming through the door, beaming ear to ear!    And behind him came seven other past and present Carthage friends,  here for a surprise visit – although it turns out that Kathy knew all about it,  so I was the only one being surprised.  (Lucky for them I didn’t suffer a stroke from the shock!)

It turns out that J.D. is back in this country getting his visa renewed (I guess he has a special type of visa which cannot be renewed in Australia- and it gave him a nice excuse to come back for a visit)  and he and some buddies gathered for supper at Olive Garden. . .  and when they issued an invitation for us to join them,  Kathy said that I had Godspell rehearsal for most of the evening, but that they would be welcome to stop by for a visit afterwards.  (I knew nothing of this – even though some of this had shown up on Facebook.  It’s good I’m such a sloppy, inattentive Facebook reader or the surprise would have been completely blown.)

So that’s why we had a great pleasure of having J.D. Strauss,  Jennifer Cobb,  Jennifer Ledanksi, Sarah Gorke, Jennifer Horn, Justin Maurer, Nick Sluss-Rodionov, and Sean Knudsen in our living room – along with the guest of honor,  J.D. –  smiling and laughing and enjoying each other’s company so thoroughly.   And I found myself so grateful that some of life’s surprises can be so very very pleasant!

pictured above:  our surprise guests:  front row:  GB, Jennifer L, Sean K., Jennifer C.  second row:  Nick S-R, Justin M., J.D. S,  Sarah G,  Jennifer H.