Meeting Friends

It all started a couple of days ago, when one of my Facebook friends posted that she was at LAX headed to Memphis.

"Memphis?"  I immediately perked up.  "You're coming to Memphis?  You know I live just South of Memphis, right?"

"I'm closer," Amy chimed in, as soon as she saw the conversation that was taking place.

It didn't take long before we all put our heads together, and decided we ought to get together.  "Hey, we need to invite Christi, too!"  And boom, just like that, we had a meet up planned.

Christi was going to swing by and pick me up, then we'd drive on up to Memphis together, only she got so excited, she left the house two hours early.  She messaged me and said, "Guess where I am."

"Are you in Grenada already?"  Yep, she was here already.  She told me to take my time, and she would just hang out at McDonald's or somewhere until I was ready.  But I was already ready, sitting there watching the clock and twiddling my thumbs.  I jumped into Jimmy and headed out to meet Christi, then off to Memphis we went.

We were going to meet everyone at Otherlands Coffee Bar.  Neither of us had ever been there before, and Christi had gotten driving directions from Google Maps.  Let me tell you, that Google has some strange sense of direction.  She was telling us to turn right when we should have turned left, then getting off at Senatobia, when we should have just gone straight.  Basically, we ignored her and made our own way.

It was a beautiful day for a trip, sunny and not too warm.  Since we left early, we got to Memphis early, too.  We were both a bit peckish by then, and drove around until we found a McDonald's, and stopped to get something to eat. 

Here we have Christi, enjoying her lunch.

I have no idea why I'm making this goofy face, but there it is. 

After we ate, we sat there in McDonald's for a while and said, "What now?"  Christi said, "Let's just go on to Otherlands and wait for them there."  And that's what we did.

We found the coffee bar, and found a place to sit.  Christi pulled out her drop spindle, and I pulled out my knitting. 

We attracted the attention of a lovely young man named Ben, who showed us the necklace he was crocheting. 

Pretty cool, huh?

Soon, Leann and her husband Adam arrived. 

She showed us the Clapotis she is knitting for her mother in law for Christmas. 

Then Amy arrived (with her Doctor Who socks she is knitting for her husband), and the party was on. 

We all knit, and Christi spun, 

and Adam thought he was going to be bored (he thought we would be talking about nothing but knitting), but I think he had just as good a time as the rest of us.  We talked about knitting, sure, but we also talked about football, and comic books, and guns, and nuclear waste, and discovered that Amy and Adam had lived in the same place but not at the same time, and we talked about kids and grandkids, and sheep, and Amy's cows...and Adam taught us how to commit the perfect murder, until Leann pointed out that Bones would figure it out anyway...and we talked about Harry Potter, and the restaurant Leann and Adam had eaten lunch in (it wasn't very good), and people with unusually large heads.  Don't even ask.   

And Adam disappeared under the table.  "Is he down there fixing the table?" I asked Leann.

"Well, somebody needs to," was Adam's reply. "They ought to give you a free cappuccino for doing it," Leann said.  But they didn't. 

All too soon, it was time to leave.  We stood up for the mandatory group photos.

Leann, Amy, Christi, and me

Adam and Leann

Amy and Christi

And we hugged, and we clung to each other, and we stood out in the parking lot another 30 minutes talking, we promised to get together again, and many bitter tears were shed at our parting. 

Then off home we all headed.  Christi and I drove randomly around Memphis for a while until we found the highway, and made it home safely without incident. 

My dogs were very glad to see me, as they were outside and it was dark by then.  Jessie is afraid of the dark, you know.

He's the most neurotic dog I've ever known.

But I luvs him anyway.