We have company coming this week and I am so excited! We have known this couple, Chuck and Becky, for longer than I can remember and Becky and I are sisters at heart! We knew it the moment we met and yet we've lived in far apart cities. Becky lives outside Chicago and as you know I'm outside Houston. We used to get together more often for business events usually in Chicago or Indianapolis (Indy 500 - fitting to talk about today) but those events have become less and less frequent and last year after many years of not seeing each other we were together twice! Last year Bill, Jack and I took a road trip to Illinois for a Corvette thing and we were close enough to get to have dinner with them. It was such a treat - she's an artist and I play like an artist and we had so much fun catching up on children and grandchildren and just our lives in general. Then just a month or so later we both attended an racing event in PA and had a whole weekend together. It was during this trip that we convinced our husbands we needed a get together in Texas.
Years ago when I had my potpourri business, Becky worked with me at the Chicago Mart and I even stayed at their home once. I remember it as being a beautiful home filled with Becky's special touch and now they're coming here - Thursday!
So I want things to be special for them here. I must admit that we moved in I set up furniture and hung pictures, primarily because I needed somewhere to put them and called it done. So I decided to take a look at our downstairs guest room. First I had to clean out all of the paper from a "civic" position I hold and that was very satisfying. I hate when I allow something to take over my life and it had - now it's all in it's place and I have my room back. But now to the little surprises: We have a book shelf in there that I haven't looked at in probably a year or more. I opened the door and pulled a book off the shelf. A note my mom had written me about 12 years ago fell out and what a nice surprise - she started it off with just a "little surprise note" from your mom! Yes it was! I read it, thought of her and how much we were enjoying each other at that stage of our lives and put it back in the book and back on the shelf. Pulled another book of the shelf and opened it to find the nicest note written on the inside of the front cover from a friend I haven't seen or talked to in over three years. Once again, a little but very pleasant surprise. I thought how strange with all these books and I pull out two that have notes in them and you guessed it. I pulled out one more to find a card fall out from my longtime friend Deb! I sat and thought of the 40 years we have been friends and closed the door. Three surprises in one night are enough. I had just enjoyed time with my mom and two of my friends and never had to leave my spot on the floor! God is so good to encourage us with little surprises.
And so now I anxiously await our friends arrival, scurrying around, trying to make our home ready to welcome them in and give us good memories for years to come.
