Sunday afternoon I was absorbed with preparations for entertaining the guest speaker and his family later that day. I set the table, fussed and fumed, paced like a cat, then took a shower. I figured they would arrive between four and five o'clock, but by 4:30 I was agitated and needed to know for certain. I reached them by cell phone and my heart sank when he said, "We've just finished Sunday dinner, and we'll be on our way soon." I looked at my table laden with delicious-looking breads, brownies, cold cuts and cheese and thought my labor had all been in vain. They wouldn't be hungry at all. My only consolation was that I'd invited my neighbors over as well, and surely they would have an appetite.
The speaker and family arrived and graciously pecked at the food. (My neighbors enjoyed it). We went to church and heard a great message that blessed us all. Then several of us went to a member's house to surprise him for his birthday. All this time my cell phone was on waiting for a call from Mr. D. About 10:30 p.m. , while still at the party, my phone rang. It was Pat and he was already at the airport in Porto Alegre. My friends looked questioningly at me and asked, "Are you going to the airport by yourself?" It's probably not a good idea for a woman to be alone in a car at that hour of the night headed for Porto Alegre, but I didn't feel I could ask someone to go with me and sped off into the darkness relieved that he was only a short distance away now. Since it's about a half hour to the airport, I kind of expected Pat to be standing on the sidewalk waiting for me, but he wasn't. I parked and walked in to the "arrivals" section, my eyes scanning the crowd for a kind-looking gentleman with a gray goatee. He wasn't there. This airport isn't that big, so it doesn't take long to look at everyone. I walked outside thinking we had missed one another and he was waiting at the curb. No Pat there, either. Back inside I went for another look. That was when I began to doubt myself. Had we given one another mixed signals somehow? Had Pat expected me to already be there on his arrival and now where was he? I called his cell phone...it was turned off. How were we to find one another?? Frustrated, I turned to go outside for another look...and HE HAD SUDDENLY MATERIALIZED!!! My relief at seeing him masked my joy of having him back. But his hug felt wonderful, and no, I hadn't gotten my signals mixed. Thinking it would take longer for me to arrive, he decided on an impulse to go up to another floor to look around-- apparently just as I arrived. My world suddenly looked bright again.
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