Tea For Three
Girl Time
This weekend, my friend Tina came to visit from South Carolina. Tina and I have been soul mates since we met in 1998. We usually try to meet at the beach for spiritual renewal and just good old-fashioned girl time, just the two of us away from the stressors of home and family and problem solving. Unfortunately, or fortunately, as it ended up, circumstances led us away from the beach to my house in North Carolina. Tina drove to my place and a spiritual revival away from the beach began.
A typical Tina and Dawn day starts with a lazy cup of coffee, or two or four, while planning what we want to do for the day. This weekend was no different. Saturday was to be a flea market shopping extravaganza. I mean, does it get any better than that? Well, in our case, it did…
I am writing a book and the story takes place in a small town much like my own. The main character, Nora, lives in a historic home left to her by her grandmother. The home that I used as a model for my story is a beautiful old residence, not far from my own, that I have admired for years.
Flea Market Adventure
It just so happened (wink, wink…), that Saturday morning, two women I hadn’t met before walked by as I was watering my plants waiting for Tina to get ready for our flea market adventure. The two women and I engaged in pleasantries and it turns out that one of the women, Ruby, lives in “Nora’s” house. I couldn’t believe it. What were the odds of us meeting like that? When I shared that I was using Ruby’s house for my book, she was just as excited as I was and invited us to come to her home and see the inside of the house to offer a more complete picture of the home for my story!
The twenty-foot columns were majestic as we walked up the porch to the front door. The history held within those walls flooded the entryway and Ruby filled in details as she led us through her home and shared the things she loved about the dwelling she had shared with her husband until his passing several years ago.
Kindred Spirits
After our tour, we sat with Ruby on her side porch drinking the most perfect sweet tea I had ever tasted. The breeze was as refreshing as any we had felt sitting on the beach and the smells and sounds were equal to the magic of the waves rolling in and out from the shore. Two kindred spirits, meeting with another kindred spirit, sharing life stories: heartaches and laughter, and sweet tea. Something happened that afternoon at Ruby’s. God showed up and allowed an anointed appointment for three women who were in need of some good old-fashioned girl time. It wasn’t our plan that day, and I’m sure it wasn’t Ruby’s, but those two hours together offered refreshment for our souls.
By the end of the weekend, I realized that we don’t need the beach, or the mountains, or any other special place to experience spiritual healing. We don’t need a special plan or perfect timing. We just need to be available when God sets the appointment for us.
