when in gainesville

The past 24 hours have been a lot of fun. I went up to UF in Gainesville with Diana, the director at camp, for a summer camp job fair. We go every year to recruit students to be counselors with us during the summer. I've gone on this trip four times and this was by far my favorite visit.

While we were in Gatortown, we stayed at a Holiday Inn and upon our arrival we were served cookies warm from the oven. Our hotel also had free wireless internet, and as someone who recently received his first laptop, I was pretty excited. We also met up with seven of our old counselors for dinner. I'd not seen some of them since the last time we were at UF so it was good to catch up with them. The other perk was that I got a free dinner at Chili's thanks to Circle F.

The highlight of the trip was spending time with my friend Grace. Last Christmas my friend Andy had his annual party for all of us who went to high school together and I found out that Grace & another friend of mine, Julia, live together and go to grad school at UF. I told them I would give them a call when I was in Gainesville for this job fair. I procrastinated calling them until I was on my way to our dinner at Chili's to see if they wanted to meet up when I finished my Chicken Crispers. Part of me wasn't sure if I should call because I thought maybe it would be awkward since we only usually see each other once a year, but I could not have been more wrong.

Julia was not able to make it, but Grace was and I was so happy to visit with her. We reminisced about my spring break trip to visit her and our other friend Martha when they were attending Boston University. On my first night there, they decided I would enjoy an authentic Boston clubbing experience. Being the clubbing fiend that I am, they were surprised to learn that all of my best clubbing gear was left in Orlando. This excuse did not deter them, though, as they called all of their guy friends until they found an outfit they deemed appropriate.

Grace also gave me an update on a guy we went to high school with named Bryan Edwards. I catch up with Bryan at Andy's parties, but don't keep in touch with him otherwise. I knew he'd been pursuing a country music career and that he was this close to being on "Nashville Star," but Grace had exciting news to tell. She informed me that not only is he now selling his cds on his website (I just ordered them!), but he opened for Keith Urban at a concert in St. Pete this past week. I'm not an avid country music fan, but I do know who this guy is because he's been mentioned in Entertainment Weekly and he's a big deal in that world right now.

I love hearing these stories about the different paths people end up on. It makes me wonder if there are other people I went to high school with sitting around asking each other, "Do you know whatever happened to that Jason Vargas kid? Remember when we had to sit through that lame senior class video he made? I wonder what he's up to now."

It also reminds me that God often puts us on paths that we never expected to be on. The tricky part is trusting that He knows what He's doing when He puts us on those paths.