It’s been a week to be thankful. A real beauty. Wednesday I was able to visit with the Pres club from Percy Priest Prespaterian church (why don’t I have pictures of those beautiful faces?) and Friday morning I was standing before a multitude of wonderful faces at David Lipscolm Campus. Both times I was sharing stories from Praying for Strangers and talking mishaps of my mistakes incurred from being human. Like this week when I grabbed what I believed was a bottle of organic vitamins and squirted them under my tounge. Only something didn’t taste right so I took a few steps backward, picked up said bottle off the kitchen counter and re-examined the label. It was the dog’s hot spot medicine. Safe to say, I don’t have any hot spots under my tounge. Off course my taste buds may be afflicted. Human? Oh, you bet. Praying for strangers, contemplating the Divine, and walking out my days sharing the realtity of these two things hasn’t stopped me from being human and a little ugly acting on any given day. Why, just this week I dashed into Bookman/Bookwoman to sign books in advance for Friday and found myself hanging out in the store just a little longer than I had anticipipated. Nevermind that I parked right IN FRONT of the store where I normally DO NOT park but hey, there was a space and there were other cars parked there as well. When I came out there were no cars in sight save my jeep which was about to be TOWED AND IMPOUNDED. Two words that are not the favorites of my vocabulary. Now, the wonderful officer canceled my tow truck forthcoming to haul my jeep away and was visibly relieved that I had returned just in the nick of time to claim my vehicle. However, there was a little matter of a ticket on my windshield which wouldn’t just go away. $50.00 – do not pass go and you are not getting out of this one kinda ticket. “You have to read the signs,” the officer says as he points to the obvious. No parking 4-6pm on the side of the street. But signs? Signs? As that old tune begins playing inside my head I think rarely do I take time to read any signs. I’m focused on the million tasks at hand. I’m suffering shock over the fact that I have lost four great author interviews due to technical problems for Clearstory that I must now all rescheulde and retape. So when the kind officer says- “You were in the bookstore signing?” “Yes.” “What did you write?” “Praying for Strangers,” I answer, “And how much is this ticket going to cost me?” “Well, congratulations on your new book and your success!” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I say. I mean it. That’s my backhanded answer. On another day, a better day, a day when I was my better self, I’d have hugged him for canceling that tow truck and dashed into the bookstore to buy my own book for him. It just wasnt’ that kind of day. So out there somewhere is an officer of the law that is probably saying – “I don’t think that lady really prays a whole lot.” Oh, but I do. 
and now, I need to go search out his number and drop him a note of apology just for being well, you know.
But in the middle of a few bumps in the road, a parking ticket and a little hot spot med, I was able to have lunch with a funny, talented friend, take in the musical Crowns with another at Christs Church Cathedral (And if you miss out on one of the performances – you missed out on a great evening of music, laughter, and storytelling,) hang out in the front of the fire with husband and friends and big dog, meet a lot of beautiful, new people, and yes, pray for a few strangers.
A new week is now dawning. I have the pleasure of recapturing those interviews which means I get to speak to those great authors at length – again. To see Larry Wood’s movie debut at Green Hills, to speak at the Christian Women in the Media conference Thursday, and to plan that great trip next week to the East Coast to see the ADORABLES and speak at Wrightsville United Methodist Church. It’s a busy life but a grand one.
All parking tickets aside, blessings abound in the midst of it all.
The journey continues. What a wild ride! May all your encounters this week be Divine.