Looking back - Part 2

I have already mentioned that I met many old friends during my recent trip to Germany. We had lost track of each other after school, pursuing our different career and life paths. Most of us married, some have a partner, many have children and others - like me - don't. One chose traveling over having children, having been to every continent except Antarctica. Two of us emigrated to another country. I came to the U.S. and a friend emigrated to Australia. Needless to say, she was not at the reunion.
I also saw members of the club my brother and I belonged to in the late Seventies, early Eighties. We had weekly meetings, often followed by a trip to a dance or guesthouse. I was treasurer of the club for seven years and therefore very involved in our annual ball and other fundraising activities. A core of our club was a folk dance group. We practiced and performed at area festivals and took trips to the United States, Sweden, Hungary, France and any place in between. It was awesome to see so many foreign places at little cost for me since we stayed with host families. The club disbanded eventually when everybody got married and had kids.
Now they are meeting again several times a year for dinner and reminiscences. The Internet helps staying connected between meetings. Somewhere along the way, my friends have become respectable citizens. Two are judges and township council members and another one just got elected to her town's council. Eleven of them turned out to see me, which I take as a great compliment. While we all have had our ups and downs (health problems being at the top of the list), our years together have forged a bond that lasted over decades.
I don't get to do much sightseeing, but my trips to Germany would be a lot less enjoyable if I didn't see my friends.