There are so many people who pass through our lives, like breezes on their way to the sea - they might jostle us, or soothe or please us before they disappear, or they may just slip by altogether unnoticed. But there are other people who enter our lives and never leave, even when most of the time they are hemispheres away.

It may only be a handful of students whom I am still in touch with from the School of Social Work's class of 1980, and a couple of placement supervisors, but they have all been woven permanently into the fabric of my life. I married one of them (Milo) a month after graduation, and the others are people who have continued to be part of our personal, political, or spiritual lives ever since we shared those two intense years of graduate school. Thankfully, we now have e-mail and Vonage phones.

Milo and I left NYC in 1986, a couple months after watching the Thanksgiving Day parade in the rain with our one-year-old son, Nicolas. Years later, after living in Peru, Costa Rica, and Bolivia, we were "stationed" in Atlanta when Nicolas's school band was invited to march the Macy's Parade. So 1999 found me back on the streets of New York, cheering on Kermit and the gang. Our daughter Cristina marched for the same school in 2004, so once again I was able to get together with fellow SW alum Debbie Stinson, who came along with her own youngsters to watch the parade. These weren't our only "reunions," but it's fun to have something as "New York" as the Macy's parade to serve as a backdrop for some of the intersections in our lives.

We're back in Peru now, but always grateful for any serendipitous opportunities that bring us together over the years. Perhaps some of those others will serve for later stories...

My greetings to all those amazing people who still inspire me with their energy, commitment and successes in so many different arenas...especially Debbie, June, Nate, Liz and Sherrill.