S t r e t c h

"Oh, by the way, I don't think I'll go" she said.
"Crap." I said to myself. (Only I didn't say crap.)

"I just won't go." I said to myself. "I won't know who to sit with."
"Besides," I continued, "I'm out late tonight. Been out every night for the past 10 days. I should stay home on Saturday and clean. It's my weekend with the kids. I should be here. I never really wanted to go to no stinkin Ladies Event. Probably will be boring..."

I went to bed Friday night thinking I'd sleep late into the morning and that would be that.
To ensure that I slept in, I read a novel for an hour - so I was good and sleepy.

I woke up at 8:00 am, thinking about the tickets I had purchased for the event. "They were only $35 each. Not a huge amount of money..."

Then I thought about the gardens I was going to miss seeing, "Probably nothing in season right now anyways. My own flowers look tired. Why would anyone get married in June? Nothing is in bloom."

And thoughts about the guest speaker were bugging me, "Likely, she can't have anything new or brilliant to share. Think I've heard it all by now..."

At 9:40 I got in my truck and hoped that I would be able to get a seat next to Maureen, Trish, Marj, Brenda or Faye. I kinda knew them well enough to be able to hang onto them.

None of them were there, tempting me to get right back in my truck and leave.

"JANE! Is that you?" She yells across the parking lot.
I look her way, but don't recognize her.
"Here, I'll take my sunglasses off."
"Leanne?" (From North Surrey High School Class of '79...)
"Hi! Do you go to this church?"
"Yeah. For a little over a year. What're you doing here?"
"My sister invited me..."

I stuck to her like glue.

Turns out our lives overlap in about 10 different areas. She is very involved with people in Fraser Heights...my old neighbourhood. And hangs out with people from my old church.

As more people arrive, I see few ladies from Murrayville Church, but alot of guests that are from my past.
"Jane K? Big sister to Jim and Julie?"
"I remember you! Didn't you marry an O? Didn't you guys start dating in like, kindergarten? I remember you two at school. Always holding hands..."

Mark and I were a couple all through high school. And always holding hands.
Sucks that I have to inform a table full of women that I'm not married to my high school honey any more.

That's the trouble when I run into anyone from high school... they all knew me as being his girl. And I liked being his girl. Had no desire to have my own identity.

But I'm getting used to having an empty hand. With a very full life.

Anyway the speaker, Cynthia Cavanaugh, took centre stage.
She spoke for one and a half hours and had my undivided attention the entire time.
I needed to have her speak truth into my life.

The whole morning was a step outside of my comfort zone.
I'd been stretched.

After lunch, we were free to wander through the gardens. Everyone paired up and explored with the friend or relative they had invited.
I had invited my camera to join me, so the two of us looked closely at everything.

"Where were you?" the kids asked when I got home at 2:00.
"On a retreat. Feels like I've been gone 4 days instead of 4 hours. It was awesome..."
"Yeah, whatever. We need groceries. There's nothing to eat. And what are we doing today? I need to go..."

Back to reality in 2 seconds flat.
But I've got a heart full of inspiration and a camera full of images.
S'all good.