It’s fun to see how certain relationships and friendships change as you grow older. Yesterday, my mom and I visited my pediatrician. I had asthma, allergies and other stuff growing up, so we were always up at Group Health in Olympia and so I got to know my doctor very well. He even came to my sister’s high school graduation party. A wonderful man, well-traveled, a lover-of-music and just a lot of fun to be around. We had a wonderful conversation yesterday – found out that he was on track towards being a Presbyterian minister as well – but ended up in medicine instead. He has traveled extensively through Russia, and recently became Russian Orthodox. It was very cool to be able to see him again and talk with him more on a peer-level. There were some things it seemed he wanted to go about regarding the Russian Orthodox church, and so after a few emails, it looks like we’re going to be going out for a beer sometime this summer [he especially loved the shirt I was wearing, that on the back says “BEER: Proof that God Loves Us“]. Now, we’re not even talking a small-town doctor, this is up in Olympia. But how many of you have had the chance to maintain a wonderful relationship with your pediatrician, to the point where you can go out for a beer with them, 6 years after they stopped seeing you. I feel blessed to have met and spent time with some really wonderful people throughout my life…