Perfect. Almost.

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn, I`ll be photographing the E family. Because my lens is no longer compatible with my camera, I gave Sandra a call to see if I could borrow some of her equipment. She was giggling when she answered.


"All afternoon I've been watching for a call from you... everytime I came back from a meeting I checked to see if you'd left a message. It's such a beautiful day. And I wanted to call you So Many Times. But I said to myself, if she doesn't call, it means I'm supposed to spend the night at home, cleaning. But if she does call - with no prompting from me, then it's a sign that I should go play."

I really just wanted her camera, but if this was a Sign ...

We met in Fort Langley, so I could scope out spots to photograph the E's at on Saturday. Except after 2 minutes, we got on the Fort to Fort trail and ended up in the nicest new development, peaking in the windows of the show homes and dreaming of living in the same subdivision someday. Going for walks along the trails, beside the river, up the main drag... it would be awesome.

We each picked out houses and realized we probably weren't downsizing at all.

We chatted about work, (she let me unload my frustrations regarding this most recent mailing. I listened to her be brave about spending ANOTHER Sunday flying to Calgary) about the future, about world peace and global warming.

OK. Maybe not.

It was late when we

stumbled across this house:

... that we thought would be perfect for my mom and dad.

Isn't it lovely? This is the backside, it has an unobstructed view of the river.

By 9 pm we ended up here:

where it was Italian Pizza night.

So we sat down with the locals and enjoyed the ambience of this too-cute-bakery-bookstore.

"This night, the night with no plans, just couldn't be more perfect" said my enthusiastic friend, enthusiastically.

And that's when I said to myself, I just love this about her. This ability she has to make the person she's with feel special. Like this thing that you're doing, is the best possible thing to be doing. That she's totally in the moment, not wishing she was somewhere else.

A few weeks ago, there were 5 of us out for dinner and Terry was talking about the Mediterranean cruise she'd be going on in a few weeks. Whilst she was sharing some of the details, she mispronounced the name of a French city she'd be visiting. Sandra interupted her and said, 'I think the correct way to say it is this way. I don't want you to feel silly saying it wrong when you're there.'

Then Denise said, 'that's what's so great about Sandra. She's so good at sharing knowledge with the purpose of being helpful." And from there she posed the question, "What are each of us good at when it comes to friendships?"

We chatted for a long time about the things we bring to table to the friendships in our lives. About the things we are good at when considering the relationships we are involved in.

And I said to myself, 'this is what I love about Denise. She asks great questions. Great conversation questions. "

A few years ago, Sandra's daughter was getting married and Sandra needed some help putting together silk flower arrangements. She had all the ingredients but not the vision. I had only known her for a year or so, but she had asked me over to help her. This was beyond my abilities, so I gave Terry a call, "Hi, I'm a few miles from your place at Sandra's house. You haven't met her before, but her daughter is getting married this weekend and she's asked me to help her with some floral arrangements..."

She interupted me, "You don't know how to arrange flowers. Does she know that?"

"No. She thinks that because I worked at Billie's, I should know how to make this work."

"I should come over. You can't do this."

And within minutes she was there, expertly arranging flowers.

And I said to myself, this is why I love Terry. She just knows how to do these things. She does it with confidence, not in a show-offy way. And she does it for someone she doesn't even know.

What part of being a friend are YOU good at?

Anyway, after some great conversation, we went back to the parking lot where we discovered that her van had been broken into and her (work) laptop, briefcase, external harddrive and purse were all stolen from her van.

My truck, was untouched. And on my seat, in full view? My opened purse, with a $20 bill poking out from the side pocket and wallet with 76 cards in it, out in the open. No accounting for it. Her stuff was all hidden from view.

Sad ending to a lovely evening. A perfect evening. Almost.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Crisp autumn evenings

2. Daydreams

3. Weekends

Shalom,