A Chance Encounter

My days never go as planned. Today was no exception. We were having a nice leisurely morning when a good friend called. She was trying to make arrangements for tomorrow's small group as she is supposed to host, but was very ill yesterday. She threw up 17 times! My poor poor friend! As a fellow mom of small children, I understand how hard it is to be a little bit sick, let alone caught in the grip of a horrible, take no prisoners kind of flu. I arranged to come over later that morning with some food. My morning ran later than expected and we stopped at the Zehrs closest to my friend's house.

I was in a horrible mood, having left a screaming child in the van with her father. I was walking through the store trying in vain to get ahold of my parents when I saw someone I knew. Now this wasn't just anybody, the people I bumped into happened to be my aunt and uncle. We chatted and they invited us over to their house for a bbq. My cousin was celebrating her 20th birthday and her son just turned 1. We all lead busy lives (who doesn't?) so I haven't seen them in quite awhile.

I called Steve and he was game, although unsure how well the screaming child would react. We went off to run our errands. Funnily enough, we drove all the way to another friend's house only to get there and discover I had forgotten the parcel I was supposed to be delivering. Thankfully she got a good laugh out of it and I got a hug. :) Hugs are good!

Then we went back to my aunt and uncle's house. My grandmother just got back from S. America. We had a very good visit with her and my uncle. He was the most lucid I've seen him in quite awhile and seemed very cheerful. I'm not as close to my dad's side of the family as I'd like to be. Although they're geographically closer, I've always been emotionally closer to my mom's side. Building relationships with them as adults has been nice. It feels strange not to be well connected and every bridge we build helps in rectifying the lack of connection. Thankfully my family really enjoys Steve. :)

To me, this is both funny and evidence of how God is at work in our lives. A random phone call prompted a random errand which resulted in a couple hours spent hanging out with my family. Incidentally, my mother had just suggested that I get together with my cousin, but I didn't know how we were going to make that happen. I guess God did. :)