satisfying a need

Five church friends and I meet regularly, on the fourth Sunday afternoon of each month.  We gather to share food and conversation. sometimes listening to something motivational or controversial to get the conversation going.  For many months we have met by Zoom which has been better than not meeting at all, but today, since we are all of a certain age and have been vaccinated. we met in person. I hosted (we take turns).  We snacked on a variety of goodies that various people provided and we talked and we talked and we talked and we talked.  The dam had broken.  There is something about talking in person that feels liberating.  We reminisced about work camps our children had gone on.  One friend was a leader on several of these trips.  I remembered waiting for our children to return from one trip, watching as they piled out of the van, and noticing that a friend's son was sporting an earring.  As I recall that did not last long. We talked about other church history, the news sources we like on TV, job problems, health problems and so much more.  Our recent Zoom meetings usually lasted about 45 minutes.  Today, two and a half hours later we were still going strong.  They might still be here if one lady hadn't had a supper commitment she had to go to.  That broke up the meeting but left us all feeling satisfied.  We really needed to talk.