I Don't Know Who It Is!

Today has been great, because of dear friends. Since last Tuesday I've been pretty blue since our dear friend Rick passed away.

Tony and I are so lucky, because we got to work a few hours, next door, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and I tried to be cheerful at work and hide my sadness concerning Rick stepping on a rainbow. But I guess I wasn't very good at it. Because this morning when we went to work, sweet Darlene, who Tony and I just love and adore, took me aside and she handed me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. And she said, "Nancy, these are for you. I must admit that I bought them for myself, but when you told me about your friend's passing I want you to have them. In hopes they will help you feel better...."

Darlene's gesture was so sweet and sincere I almost teared up, so I thanked her while I stared up at the kitchen's ceiling. Because years ago, sweet Nita, Ronnie's wife, had taught me the secret of always staring upwards to avoid tears. And it worked.

As usual work was fun, because we love everyone that works at Escondida. Anyway, Tony and I only worked about 2.5 hours today, because we were meeting our dear friends, Eileen, Chris and Suzanne at 11:45, for lunch at the Apple Store, in Medina.

When Tony and I got off work at 11:05, we came home and the first thing I did was put Darlene's lovely flowers in a vase.

Knowing that time was of the essence for us to be on time for our fun lunch, Tony and I quickly cleaned up The Cabin, because we had decided to invite our friends to come over after lunch, so we could show them all of the things we've done with The Cabin. And I am so glad that we did that.

Tony and I arrived first, at the Apple Store at 11:45, so we went ahead and placed our orders. Then we went outside and found a picnic table, under the sun, for all of us to eat at.

As the sun beamed down on us, Tony and I passed the time by betting who would show up first until we were served lunch. We thought about waiting for Eileen, Suzanne and Chris to arrive before eating our lunch, but time marched on and on and on. So we started eating our delicious lunch.

After we had finished-off our hamburgers, we took turns to go get our apple ice cream desserts, so one of us would be at the picnic table, to greet our friends. I went first.

Naturally, I was the first to finish my dessert, so I said, "Tony. I don't think they are coming. We must have had a miscommunication or something...." Tony nodded.

When we got back home, the first thing I did was check my e-mail and Eileen, at 7:59 this morning had sent me this note:

"Nancy,

Suzanne is sick, so we called off lunch for today. Will reschedule another day after she gets to feeling normal."

Then I sent Eileen a funny reply to let her know that we had not checked our messages or e-mails before going to work this morning and that we had enjoyed our lunch at the Apple Store and that we looked forward to having lunch with them sooner than later.

Then I heard a horn honk outside and our dogs started barking. As Tony exited his man-cave, I said, "Tony! Someone is at our gate, but I don't know who it is."

"It's Marita," Tony replied, matter of factly, as he walked past me on his way outside. 

"Marita & Hans?" I asked. "Our dear friends in Bergen, Norway?"

As we watched Hans & Marita's KIA rental car pull up to The Cabin, I asked, "How did you know it was Marita?"

"She had just messaged me," Tony explained. "Asking if they could drop by...."And that is when I thought—thank goodness we cleaned up the house.

Omg, we had so much fun visiting with our dear Norwegian friends. Over coffee, we caught up with each other's news. And that is when they told us that they had returned to Fredericksburg, so they could go to concerts all over the state and then go to Austin to attend SXSW.

And while we were outside, sitting on the front porch, laughing and talking about some of our favorite musicians, Terlingua, etc. we heard another honk and it was sweet Carol, driving by in her pickup—heading to her ranch. And as I finish writing this Carol just called and I let Carlton take the call, so I am now fixin' to call her back.

Y'all have a great evening and keep on laughing!