Today’s post
is almost two weeks behind, but I had so much to tell you about so many other
things that happened first! And I’m excited to share with you today’s story.
I don’t even remember now how
many years Kari and I have been friends. I remember how we became friends,
but I don’t know exactly when it happened. I was working at IWU in the
Financial Aid Office, and Kari’s mom, Sandee, worked next door in the Business
Office. Our jobs overlapped quite heavily, so Sandee and I were often in each
other’s offices hashing out this or that about a student’s aid or bill. Sandee
also adopted me as a third daughter, and I was happy to have her for a second
mom.
When I’d go over to talk to
Sandee, she’d often tell me how something I said or did reminded her of one of
her actual daughters, Kari, and I’d say, “Well tell Kari I said….” And then
Kari would send a message back, and we played that game for quite some time.
I should add this was back in
the day of Yahoo instant messenger. Remember that? Our office used that to
communicate between the front/back offices so we could know if someone needed
us, and sometimes we sent messages to the Business Office as well. One day,
while relaying a message to Kari, Sandee said, “You guys just need to become
friends and give me a break. Ha!” So she gave us each the other’s IM handle and
with that…Kari and I became friends.
The messenger days are long
gone, but we now text and email all the time – daily, really. We’ve prayed each
other though all kinds of things. Her boys were young when we were set up as
friends (ha!) and they’re adults now. We’ve prayed over houses and moves and
jobs and health and parents and all manner of burdens of the soul.
We both absolutely hate it that
we live so far apart. But we do, and we see each other once or twice a year,
maybe.
Kari loves to shop for antiques,
so we decided to a thrifting/consigning/antiquing day this summer. She offered
to drive up here, and I made up an itinerary for us to follow to get to all the
spots!
We failed to get a photo at our first
stop. Womp womp. There’s a brand new
coffee shop in Bluffton, called The Well. I had met a church member there a few
days before our outing and knew Kari would love the shop, so we started there. (You
can enjoy this photo of Ryan and me at The Well before Kari arrived. He dropped
me off and went to work, and I wrote a sermon while I waited for Kari to get
there.)
Kari and I walked from The Well
over to the next block to shop at my favorite consignment store, Fraction
Apparel and Home. I found several pieces of clothing there – as well as a few
house pretties. Kari found an old school desk that was so cute and SO HEAVY. I carried
it to her car, and it’s way heavier than it looks.
We drove to Monroe to shop at an
eclectic little place called This and That. Forgot to get a picture there, too.
I wanted to take her to the Shaka Shack, but it was about to close, so we went on
into Berne.
We went to one of my favorite thrift
stores, Et Cetera Ecke, and I found a few more treasures there.
We took a break for lunch at The
Filling Station Coffee Haus, and it was quite yummy.
Then we went to Cuckoo and Co in
Berne. It’s a newer shop that houses lots of vendor booths. It was Kari’s
favorite stop of the day, as I was sure it would be.
They have a fun mirror!
We both found GOOD stuff here.
Our last stop of the day was a new
place in Geneva called The Slanted Mercantile. It’s housed in the sanctuary of
an old church, and the floor slopes downward (where the pews sat)…hence the
name. No finds for us at this location, but we had fun.
Our day was over all too soon,
and Kari had to drive back home. I can’t tell you how much fun I had and how
good it was for my soul to have a whole girl’s day out!
Thanks, Kari, for making the
trip!
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