it's friday morning, and a beautiful one so far. i got up in the wee hours to have breakfast with rachel, one of the strongest, most creative women i have the joy of knowing. we went to college together at taylor university in indiana, and are planning to go to homecoming together tomorrow. it's my five-year college reunion - my goodness! anyway, both of us are preparing ourselves for a bit of culture shock. as rachel said, "i'm starting to freak out a little!" taylor was a great place for me to be when i was there, and in retrospect, it was one of the most formative experiences of my life. i don't think any of my quotes about it would make it into the brochures, though. i spent most of my time avoiding dorm and student government social life to hang out with the kids on the fringe - mostly missionary and other "third culture" kids who found it difficult to carve a place for themselves in a world full of upper middle-class evangelicals who wanted to change the world but had spent little time in it. since i was raised in a conservative mennonite culture, the community we built in an off-campus house at taylor was just the place for me. my chosen family there were among the first to teach me what a cohesive community feels like. co-ed slumber parties filled with chai, curry, guitars and small talkless conversation are what really shaped me nine years ago, and most likely were what led to me living in a commune of sorts for two years afterwards. there are many more things i could say about that time in my life, but i really wasn't planning to write about it at all today. it's funny what spills out onto the page sometimes... i need to get back to work now. more later.