REUNION DATE: 14, 15, 16 May, 2004,at Atlanta, Georgia. REUNION COORDINATER: Mark Anton (NBAer 1964-1966)

Drinking rum and coke, with a twist of lime. It's been a few years since I've tasted that concoction, and many, many years since it was a nightly staple. Big grins all around on the now weathered faces, and the warmth we feel is unmistakable. We're all safe and comfortable. Comfortable enough that the name calling and heckling has begun once again, now 40 years later. There are five of us here and the memories are flowing.  

The gorgeous Chris and I arrive on time, park the car and  head for the front desk, bags in tow. Our room was ready, so off we go to dump our stuff. I'm pretty anxious to get back downstairs and look for my former shipmates. Also to find which room we'll be using as our meeting place.  

 I'm wearing a T-shirt with large letters, N-A-V-Y, spelled across my chest, in an attempt to make myself conspicuous. Meandering down the hall, I see two middle-aged, guys. Nope, don't look familiar, but let me pause and give them a chance to respond to my shirt, just in case. Someone speaks to me,  mutters something about the reunion. It's Joe Cosgrove and Tom Meggers! We're barely reintroduced and down the hall from the lobby, comes Murphy. He still has his devilish grin. My mind is attempting the computation of adding 40 years to the faces I remember from my youth. Sure enough, it isn't long before I see my old buddies in the previously unrecognizable strangers.  

We end up in our meeting room, and we're enjoying enthusiastic conversation. Chris is taking this all in, pretending she's enjoying herself. No doubt already planning her exit strategy.

Soon enough, Mark and Beth arrive. His usual ear to ear grin, which I've seen so much of recently. Within this group, Mark is the only Farfan veteran I'd seen at all in the time since I left NBA. So, his grin is familiar to me, and a welcome sight.  

It's all memories all the time from here on out. At some point the ladies retire, and leave the old sea dogs to tell their sea stories. K-Street memories, the Blue Goose, old friends who served with us. Everyone doesn't agree about the details all the time, but what great memories they were!  Mark reveals that he has brought a goodie bag with him - including several baseball caps, embroidered with "NAVCOMMSTA BALBOA NBA", and a Navy CW (morse-code) key and oscillator. That was loads of fun, trying to decipher each others' declining skills on the key. Murph and Joe had brought some goodies of their own, some pictures, along with rare K street artifacts.  

We make arrangements to meet for breakfast tomorrow. Murph and Joe, I believe, are still there when I retired for the night. Chris is in the room, patiently reading and relaxing. I'm very excited and glad she's there to tell her all about the wonderful time I'm having. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.  

Some of the most common observations made were how comfortable we were, and how much we enjoyed each other's company. Hopefully, we'll have even more people attending our next reunion.