Happy Labor Day!

We are actually celebrating Labor Day this year!! Haha...

I vividly took note of the fact that A&M never gave its students or employees this holiday, but up here in Union central it is a dedicated holiday! We've been having a fun last couple of days enjoying meals with new friends. A really sweet retired couple invited us to dinner at their house last night. We met them at our church a couple weeks ago in the pew at the end of the service. It turns out he is an elder at the church and she is co-leading the women's study that I already knew I wanted to join this year. We were fascinated to learn about their family history and to learn about the farm that they lived in for a good part of their adult lives. Lancaster County, I am finding, is in large part filled with families that have been here for many generations. You see the same handful of names everywhere- on street names, businesses, in the newspaper, etc. Well they have one of those names. Turns out her maiden name is one of those other names. Not that its really a big deal to them, of course. They are incredibly down to earth. But I felt like we were in a room with royalty when I realized how long their families have placed their roots here and made an impact in the community. They just moved across town to a house in a neighborhood and off the family farm, but boy did they have a story to tell with this farm. There is an entire book written about it! Apparently William Penn held the original deed to that land and that actual farmhouse when he first settled Pennsylvania and divided Lancaster County into 15 plotted areas. This was one of those 15 original farms! I think it maybe has only passed through 3 or 4 family names since back then (1700's). I can't fathom that! Both the idea that you could still live in a house that old and that one family could keep a house in their family for so many generations. So neat! :-) I can't wait to learn more from them about life and to be under her leadership this year.

Today we had another great meal with friends! This time we played host :-) We had Greg's faculty mentor and his wife over as well as the other new communication faculty hire and his wife. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and served up watermelon, pasta salad, and grilled veggies. It was delicious and a really enjoyable time to catch up and tell stories of vacations and plans for the next year.

Now it's time to enjoy spending the rest of the day relaxing while my hubby's off from work, too. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!