Monday, October 18, 2010

Do You Believe in Signs?

Last week my friend texted me, "What humanitarian trips are you and Courtney looking into?"
Oh yeah, I was looking into that at one time. Then I'd promptly forgot.

So that morning I started looking into ideas again. Later I talked to her in person to get her ideas. She'd heard that Deanne's kids had participated in a program and they really liked it. "I'll have to call Deanne," I said.

So an hour later I went to the store to buy orange juice because I was fighting off a cold. There stood Deanne in line ahead of me. "I was just talking about you," I said. And I got her ideas for humanitarian projects.

Later that evening I told Courtney about the info I'd found and that I'd run into Deanne at the store just after I'd been talking about her. What a coincidence, we said. It must be a sign, we laughed. "Who's Deanne?" She wondered.

The next day we stood in the driveway. Deanne drove by in her suburban. "That's Deanne," I said. We looked at each other. Yep, it's a sign.

Today I had the most wonderful spontaneous day. I came home from Aerobics. (Yes, I said aerobics -- dance steps and all.) And I surfed the internet to check in on all that had happened in the world for the 90 minutes that I'd been gone to aerobics. Then Julia called. I last saw Julia 3 years ago when we happened to be at the same book conference. Before that I'd last seen her when our husbands were students at University of Chicago. However, we follow each other's blogs and are friends on Facebook. So it really feels like we keep up on each other's lives.

She was calling to return some books. We'd tried to see each other last summer when I answered her shout-out to anyone with the Hunger Games series who would be willing to loan it out. But I was racing to Nick's swim lessons and she was racing with children as well. So I left the books on the porch.

"It would be fun to actually see each other when I bring your books back." (We've been talking about seeing each other for exactly 3 years -- since I last ran into her. Yogurt, walks, bike rides, lunch. Anything. But we haven't done it.)

"Let's go walking," I said. Tomorrow didn't work for Julia and Wednesday didn't work for me. "What about today?" She ventured. "Why not?"

So Julia came over and we went on a walk. And we talked and talked and talked. Then we went to lunch, sweaty and all, and she treated (Thank you!!) and we talked and talked some more. And it was the most wonderful day! Much better than organizing my closet or shopping for Halloween costumes at DI and Savers. And infinitely better than surfing the internet for entertainment.

She said that morning while driving to carpool they'd hit a big dip. And her daughter said, "This is like that dip that we hit by your friend that we'd borrowed the books from."

And then later that morning she ran into her friend from her kids' school. Who was my new friend from the cruise. My name came up -- "How do you know Angela?" And so with the thought of needing to return my books and my name coming up twice in just a few hours, she called. The result was a wonderful day and a friendship nurtured. "It was a sign," she laughed as she walked away. I think it was.
Julia & me -- 3 years ago

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

it was a sign, that's for sure! I loved seeing you. I loved that you walk fast...faster than I would have otherwise (I rarely go on walks...so boring alone!) i loved catching up after all these years. here's to many more walks. they don't have to be years apart, either! :-)

you're a darling, Angiegirl!
♥, Julia