Friday, I am flying out to Pennslyvania. I am going to be staying with my in-laws. I am returning on Monday. The main reason for my visit is to see my good friend/penpal Esther. I don't know if I have mentioned her before or not.
Esther and I have been writing to each other for over 30 years. I know that I was very excited when I first received her letter. Esther is from the island nation of Trinidad. She is only 4 months older than I am. Back then our letters would cross each other. We wrote one another on a regular basis just about until the time that I got married. The letters became a bit longer come but we remained in touch. I brought her letters with me all over the world. To this day, I still have them including all the pictures. My sister died when I was only a year old, so Esther has become the sister that I lost. We told each other everything. For awhile, I had misplaced one of the letters that she had written that had her address and Esther was going through a very hard time with her mother passing. We lost contact with one another. I had been moving quite a bit and the letters somehow didn't catch up to me. Esther, had told me that they were returned. One day about two years ago, I got the urge to find her. So I did an internet search of the company that I knew that she had worked for. I was saying my prayers that she was still there and sent off an email. I was very happy/excited when she was the one who had sent the reply back. Our friendship is not quite back to the stage where it once was. Back in July, we were talking (the internet is a wonderful tool) and I found out that she was coming to the States. She was dropping her daughters off for the summer with their grandparents and returning to pick them up. When I found out that our in-laws lived only an hour apart from each other, I realized that this was a golden opportunity for me to meet a very important person in my life. No way was I going to let this opportunity pass. I somehow raised the money for the airfare and found some extra money in my budget for the weekend. My plans are to spend the day with her on Saturday. I will also get to meet her daughters and husband. I am both nervous and excited.
I was hoping to have the shawl that I am knitting for Esther finished. I am knitting a swallowtail shawl out of laceweight yarn. I figure since she lives in the tropics that would be the best thing for her. I just started knitting the nupp section. The first two rows took me an hour to knit. I have 20 more rows to go. No way do I have enough time for 10 more hours of knitting. So I will just have to finish it and send it off in the post for her as a birthday gift. Her birthday is in October so that should be a grand present for her. Now I just have to plan a very special present for her for when I see her. Now, I feel 10x better about not finishing it in time. Any suggestions on the perfect gift?
Last night, I dug into my small pant drawer (you know the drawer where you keep the clothes that are too small?) Well I tried a few pairs on and they fit (well sort of) I was able to button and zip but they were tight. Not too much longer and I should be able to get them out and add them as part of my wardrobe.
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