We’ve just had another survivor dinner. On this beautiful summer night in July our group got together at our house for a potluck dinner. There are so many reasons to celebrate friendship, support each other, and just plain get together.

This particular day we celebrated Rick’s birthday, Rick and Glenda’s 28th anniversary, Julie’s health boost during her treatment and to reconnect with Pete, Bonnie’s husband.

Our survivor dinners started out a few years ago with 4 couples, Rick, Glenda, Julie, Graham, Bonnie, Pete, and Darren and I. Almost all of us are survivors of cancer and other life threatening situations. I think we were just looking for a good reason to get together regularly, not that we needed one, but our regular dinners were called survivor dinners. We get together every couple months and alternate the location at each others homes. We all bring our contributions to the dinner and overall just have a lot of fun.

As you know, we lost Bonnie to a courageous battle in March this year. Bonnie is so dearly missed by all of us and we are so happy that Pete remains in touch and a part of our survivor dinners. As a matter of fact, after we lost Bonnie, Pete hosted the first survivor dinner at their home. And what a great cook he is.

The survivor dinner last night was at our house. The weather was beautiful and hot. We were able to sit in the yard and move to the patio for dinner. The menu included BBQ steak and chicken (Darren) veggie salad (Glenda), scalloped potatoes (Pete), corn on the cob,  dessert of cake topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream (Julie).

We have no end of laughter and stories during the night. We have so much to celebrate, remember, and smiles to share. I would highly recommend getting together with your friends as often as you can. I know we are all so busy this day and age but friendship is something you can’t replace by anything in this world.