Now, that’s what I would call an eventful visit … so that’s what I’ll do.

I ventured to West Texas and spent a couple of days visiting four of my best friends on Earth. They are members of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange team I accompanied to Israel in May-June 2009. We have stayed in touch for the past 16 years and they have become part of what we call our “familia.”

We enjoyed some barbecue, a steak dinner with another couple I have known for many years. We reminisced about the month we spent in one of the most marvelous places in this world of ours.

Then, this afternoon, after enjoying a fantastic lunch at a famed BBQ joint in Olton, Texas, we got in touch with a young man and his wife — two more friends of ours — in The Netherlands. The young man was part of a Dutch team that toured Israel with us and we also have remained close.

That wasn’t the end of the excitement … for me. I took off around 2 p.m. expecting to arrive home in Princeton around 8. Hah! I ran into two thunderstorms, one along U.S. 82 as I approached Gainesville, and then along U.S. 75 just as I turned south in Sherman. It was violent, full of lightning and thunder and deluge-scale rainfall. The wind that preceded that first storm was so intense I seriously thought I would witness a tornado. Yes … I was frightened.

My six-hour home turned into a nearly eight-hour trek.

I so thoroughly enjoyed seeing my good friends, people I love dearly. We all went through a lot together on our tour of Israel. It will stay with us forever.