This is what happened.

It started with three friends who met two decades ago.

They played a game. A game about whales. The goal was to save the whales from the evil catcher ship.

As children, they’d mostly pretend the catcher ship didn’t exist.

They grew up, moved away, went to college, got jobs, they grew apart and didn’t see each other for many, many years.

Then one day, one girl posted a photo on Facebook from a whale watching tour she went on with the second girl, her sister.

The third girl saw this photo and commented about that old whale saving game from years gone past.

The long-parted friends joked they should get together and play it again sometime.

And so they did.

I’m very proud to report that we saved all but one whale in this team-building, environmentally conscious board game. I’m very sad to report that the one whale we lost was Funny Face (seen above). I’m very devastated to report that it was my fault we lost Funny Face.

A moment of silence for Funny Face, please.

In spite of that, Loren, Emily and I had a marvelous time reuniting after over a decade of separation. It’s always a little nerve-wracking to see someone again after such a long time. What if you don’t get along any more? What if your fond childhood memories are better left without an addendum?

Lucky for us, we picked up right where we left off. (Except this time, we actually played by the rules. Poor Funny Face.)