wedding shower + reunion = fabulous!

This weekend I drove in to Washington DC for a special event. I don't often do this (driving in to DC) for a couple of reasons. First, the traffic is bad no matter what time of day nor what day of the week, thus taking the train is preferred if the destination is within reasonable walking distance from a train stop. Second, finding parking is worse than the traffic. But, for this event I made an exception.

The special event was a wedding shower.

The party was in honor of Emily. Emily has been looking for her Prince Charming for some time now. It turns out she has known him for about 15 years, as a friend...and didn't see him as anything more until recently.

A few years ago I met Emily. We worked together and a had shared passion for building community and capacity overseas. She now works in the Office of Global AIDS Commission in DC, overseeing the work in Southern Africa.

The shower was a lovely celebration and a gathering of strong, intelligent women...all of which are doing interesting work (with many high powered organizations) around the globe. There were some new faces, but many familiar ones...though I had not seen them in a couple of years.

The hostess of this gathering is Allison.

I met Allison at a large HIV conference on the West Coast of the US about four years ago. She was the speaker and I found her research intriguing. We stayed in touch professionally, and with so many common conferences and complimentary work projects - a professional relationship also became a personal one.

She was working at Harvard at the time of our meeting. She is currently a PhD student at Johns Hopkins and the co-author of two books and many articles, one of which I have posted before on this blog...but I didn't devulge that I knew the co-author personally. To read the article click here.

In the pink on Emily's right is Janae.

I also met Janae in my former work. She had been hired as a contractor to do some assessments for HIV programming. She now works for the State Department. 

Turns out she also is friends with someone I hung around with when living in Phnom Phen, Cambodia...it is a small world after all.

And, Christine. I met Christine in her role as a researcher for Johns Hopkins. We had contracted with the organization to evaluate our largest, multi-country program. Spending time in the African bush together is a VERY bonding experience! When Christine moved back to the US to start her family...turns out she moved to Fredericksburg. Over the years we would get together for tea and chats when I was passing through the area. Then I moved overseas. It was great to reconnect with Christine...and learn that she is pregnant with her second child.

These were only the familiar faces. It was a wonderful gathering of women. Strong, intelligent, world changing type of women. I love that we have shared passions and experiences and I especially love that we can get together and celebrate a wonderful moment in the life of another.

Congratulations to Emily! Thanks for providing a venue for a fabulous reunion.

just Sheri, still realizing the perks of our new location