I loved my day Friday.

1. I got to go to Dallas to a networking meeting. This marketing stuff is a fairly new addition to my job duties, and I’m LOVING getting out of the office and meeting new people all the time.

2. I got to see my old friend Lynn, or Joseph as he’s known now that he’s a grown-up. We met at the Argentina Bakery for empanadas which were MUY DELICIOUS-O ~ and I’m pretty sure that’s how they say it in Argentina, or somewhere south of the border ~ and then roamed around a book store for a couple of hours, catching up and laughing.

We sat by each other in computer class in high school where we played Slaps until my hands were red and bloodied, then went on to the same college, and its been more than 15 years since we’ve seen each other (ah, the magic of Facebook!), so we had a lot to catch up on and had the best time doing it. But somehow I let him slip away without ONE MORE GAME of Slaps… maybe next time.

3. I bought three books. Books are a weakness of mine, if you didn’t know. A used cookbook that I can’t WAIT to try out, and two other ‘how-to’ books so’s I can get better at something I want to be better at. I refrained from buying more novels though, what with my efforts at being a better steward of my time and money. And that took some massive self-discipline.

4. On the way home I stopped to see Olivia, my 85-year-old friend who sews nightgowns for the kids at Truman Smith. And we chatted for a couple of hours and I enjoyed it SO MUCH, I may just adopt her. She showed me all her fabric, all her books, her curtains, her laundry room, her pantry, a picture of her son Bubba along with stories of his love for Texas Tech, pretty much an item-by-item tour of the whole house, a long letter from her late husband Don, and a picture of the two of them together before her granddaughter’s wedding in about 1990 (they looked SO happy!), but my favorite part of our chat was when she told me two different times that the LORD is her strength and shield and ever present help in times of trouble. And that’s why I love sitting and chatting with little old ladies. She gave me two homemade lace-trimmed pillowcases for me, and a car load of gowns for the Truman kids.

5. Friday night, my dinner ended with a fortune cookie that said: Don’t waste time on what might have been. Its funny how my last three fortune cookies have been really appropriate words of wisdom for my life at that moment. No more wasting time… moving toward what’s ahead, and trusting the Lord to provide all in the right time. If He can be Olivia’s strength and shield, surely He can direct my paths too…