Old Friends

Jason Kabel is here in Paris right now!
He just up and decided to drive on over and spend a day or two catching up.  Last I saw him was conference weekend in Salt Lake City in October 2009.  Before that was when I visited the Netherlands for a bit from Florence in the spring of 2006.  Before that was the summer of 2005 when I stopped over on my way (well, out of my way) to Cambridge in the UK.  That was just three years after I returned from living in the Netherlands for a year.  I have known Jason and his family for over ten years, now.  That is unbelievable.

The Kabel family was my favorite.  Tante Joan was my seminary teacher, and she and Oom Guus took me under their wing when I was truly homesick.  Their three boys, Jason, Alexander, and Sebastiaan, took it upon themselves to tease me mercilessly like the good surrogate brothers they were.  I was over at their house all the time.  I learned Dutch with them.  They took me to Denmark for a week on New Years, they took me rock rappelling, they took me to the zoo.  Tante Joan sewed me a pair of white wide-leg pants for a school recital.  I rode in their car for temple trips.  I cried and yelled and laughed at their house.

Sometimes I wonder why I was blessed to find such wonderful people.  I haven't married any of their sons.  I haven't moved to the Netherlands.  We keep in touch only sporadically, and I feel like my decayed Dutch might keep old friends at arm's length.
No, as far as I can tell, I met the Kabels just because Heavenly Father knew they would make me happy when we were together.  A perfectly frivolous gift!  I am so grateful.