Yesterday I had such a lovely time. I worked in the morning for my dear friend, Margie. I convinced another friend to finish my shift and left early to meet my sister, she was in from out of town, for a quaint little lunch at Queenie's in Utica Square.
It was a wonderful afternoon. We sat and ate on the tree-lined sidewalk. We watched the old man next to us feed the squirrels. As rodent-like as squirrels are, it was a tiny bit cute to watch it nibble on a potato chip.
We talked and talked and talked.
We talked about raising children with the woman who bussed our table. She made a strong point, as she cleaned, that HER 4 boys would Never have been able to behave like the toddler who had preceded us at this table. (He had left a rather whirlwind-like mess on the table and sidewalk, alike.)
We talked about boyfriends and husbands and the when's, why's, and how's of saying, "the Lord told me...".
We talked about mortgages and about the meaning of true repentance.
We talked about rewards for doing right, and about how that sometimes appears in the form of the "status quo".
We talked about how the fruit of our righteousness sometimes looks like nothing at all! It just may be that we simply KEEP the dear things we already have. And I thought of my boys. How NOT losing them would be reward enough for my efforts towards clean living.
And we ate, boy, did we eat.
We each had a sandwich/soup combo and then, at the end, we splurged. She on a decadent chocolate chip cookie, and I on a sour cream lime tart. Delicious afternoon, I tell you!
We laughed and laughed and even cried, because that's just what sisters do.
And then we window shopped for a little while, and soon it was time to go. Hugs, I Love You's and when will you be back in town? and the afternoon was gone.
We left Utica Square at around 3:50.
Today I reflect on that. On the miracle that it was.
My sister is from Norman, right next door to Moore, OK. She was with me, but in being there she was playing hooky from a dental appointment. Her dentist is located in Moore. Her appointment time was 3p.m. The tornado came through at 3:16.
She felt guilty for not notifying them of her cancellation.
I talked to her again today. She saw a glimpse of what used to be Moore. She reported that there's trash everywhere, the traffic is unbelievable, and that the mud, ugh, the mud.
We talked a little about her being in Tulsa when she should have been in the path of the worst tornado in US history. She said, "I just feel so cared for."
This is not a referendum on the devastated people in Moore. It most certainly is not intended to imply that they did something wrong to invoke this horrific tragedy. Because tragedy doesn't care who or why or how you are, it just comes to destroy, and we have experienced that too.
This is just a simple acknowledgment of God's protection on my sister's life. And my gratefulness for it.
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