My nerves have been rattled by this constant move of 30 days. Digging through boxes to organize my new household has made me deal with the loss of my old life over the last few days. Fortunately, today God has helped me focus on my new life.
A big supporter of my book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," who's a high school choir friend asked me if I'd like to go to the children's mass at St. Mel's with her. She had helped me find Divine Savior Catholic Church last week, though her current church is St. Mel's, an old fashioned catholic church that doesn't have much of an adult choir program. I still wanted to check out St. Mel's and see her, so I joined her.
I hadn't seen her since our 20th high school class reunion which was 11 years ago. At that time she lived in San Diego when I lived there. We just never got our schedules together to see each other then. It was wonderful to see her smile that eminated from her beautiful soul. She was much taller than I remembered, but I wore high platforms throughout high school to camouflage that I was a short gymnast. I also always wore high heels at the reunions. Now I just wear flats to keep my feet comfy, so my dear choir friend seemed quite tall in comparison.
She expertly guided me into a side door of the church and with only a few steps lead me to a pew behind her son who gave her the most beautiful smile upon her entrance. Oh, I remember those days! Then his and our attention turned to the mass that was starting.
Hearing my friend's beautiful voice again was such a treat! We sang in unison for all the songs. We were once again choir sisters blending our voices, but this time we joined together to glorify God with our song. God was not one that I would have glorified in our junior high and high school choirs.
In high school I was an unchurched heathen that only did the benediction at our graduation, because I was the Student Body President and was required to give a speech at graduation. The only speech remaining happened to be the benediction! The powers that be ignored my protest and instructed me to just come up with something uplifting to say for the final speech at graduation.
It's funny how God has been messing with me to get me to this place right now---a Christian author, who wanted to be a mainstream author, and a math teacher on ministry for "At Risk" high school students, who just wanted to inspire girls to become engineers. God is the best choreographer ever---He's intricately woven my life to experience life from both sides of the God fence. No matter how stubborn I have been, He's found a way to orchestrate my maze to get me here---my Lt. Colonel got me to look at Edjoin for math teaching jobs, and my new principal was the only one in 5 years who believed in me enough to ask me for more job references after I received a bad reference.
God also wanted to give me a hug today to calm my nerves, so He did during that mass at St. Mel's. He surrounded me with Tiepolo-like painted church walls, since 15th century Tiepolo is one of my favorite painters. He surrounded me with children which have been missing from my life for the last 30 days of this move. Most importantly, he surrounded me with the love of my choir friend.
She took me over to park at her husband's car repair shop after mass, so we could get coffee and breakfast in Fair Oaks Village. Her husband was busy repairing a Subaru Outback which is the car that I was intensely researching last night to replace the Nissan that my son has permanently taken to college.
Her husband told me all about Subarus. Apparently, they may not get the gas mileage that the manufacturer states. They are also expensive to repair, since they are engineered so precisely due to their unusual four-wheel drive drivetrain. For instance, if one tire needs replacing, they all have to be replaced.
Bummer! Maybe I'll just drive the Suburban to work and pay over $6000 for gas to commute. I would have to repair the stereo system, so I could listen to local radio. That would sure free up garage space which I could use for storage. I could also drive directly from work to Lake Natoma with my kayak and bicycle in the truck. Hmmmm. Decisions.
Over coffee I learned that my choir friend was quite an entrepreneur herself. After several successful careers, she finally was blessed with her son and retired. Like me, she got bored with just being a mom and slowly started buying up foreclosed properties, fixed them up, and rents them. My choir friend and I are both entrepreneurs that once lived in San Diego and have returned home to live out our lives. What fun! Thank you God for my friend asking me to go to mass today!
After our coffee we both had 11am meetings, so we had to go. I met my dad at my place. It was so good to see him. I gave him the tour of my new woman's cave in the making. Then we headed out for lunch. Upon our return I took him over to my neighbors that were his former patients.
My neighbors were so excited to see him. They treated him like a catholic family would treat a visiting bishop! My dad and I spent over an hour visiting with them. I actually may have sold a lot of my limited-edition, hard-copy books to the wife. She collects rare books and wants to give them away as Christmas gifts to her kids, since my dad, their family doctor, is in the book!
As dad and I walked back to my place, he told me that my neighbor had prostate cancer like he did. It's amazing how God brought my dad back into my neighbor's life right when he needed him. It's truly amazing how orchestrated our lives are by God, if we just take the time to notice.
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