Dixie Queen Delight!

Another joyous day with friends! This has been the most peculiar, yet wonderful time to me. I need to pinch myself to make sure 'this is my life'!!! So much has happened to me and my family the past year and it's all happening so fast, I don't have time to get one thing settled in my mind until something else comes along! I'm not complaining though. 2009 has been a wild ride, let me tell you! There has been good, there has been glorious, and there has been some hurt and sadness. No matter the situation or occasion; God has been real, God has been true, God has been faithful, and God has worked each thing to our good! I sit here amazed and dumb-founded. Even on those days there was hurt and disappointment, I wouldn't change them for anything. God has proved Himself over and over again, which has brought us closer to Him and has increased our faith and our love for Him. As for last Thursday, July 9, 2009, I met school friends for lunch at our local Dixie Queen which by the way is owned by one of the boys we went to school with all 12 years! Cool, huh? Karen, Michelle, and I had met for lunch a couple of weeks before, but Andrea was able to join us this time. Andrea has three children and SHE IS A GRANDMOTHER! Andrea works in a deli and is a very talented singer and can tickle the piano from one end to the other! She and I have great memories of singing together when we were teens. We are hoping for one more get together before Michelle has to go back to her new home in Texas. Hopefully, we'll add a few more faces to our next outing. We sat in the back corner of the Dixie Queen we all grew up loving. We laughed and laughed and laughed some more!!! We weren't so loud and obnoxious that we ran people off, but we really were quite lively! Ha. We reminisced about times in class and school and told embarrassing yet hilarious stories. I came out of there so refreshed and knowing how good my life has been and how very blessed I have been my 44 years to have such wonderful people in my life. If you read about our first luncheon in a previous post, you remember that our first grade teacher came into the restaurant and we visited with her and had pictures made with her. You never know who you'll meet up with in a small town; we were thrilled when our sixth grade reading teacher came in to the Dixie Queen Thursday. She was with one of her sons and her two grand babies. We grabbed her for a picture! I wish I had words to express the awe and wonder I feel about these precious moments in my life. You'll just have to take my word for it; cause this side of eternity, I will always fail in expressing my love, gratitude, and joy for such a wonderful life filled with such treasures as the people I write about from time to time. Thanks girls~ you light up my life and make my heart feel all gooey inside! Friends Forever and ever!

Back row: Mrs. Sondra Bullen (our 6th grade reading teacher), Michelle Culp English,

Front row: Andrea Gray Hayes, Liesa Gentle George, and Karen Oswalt Timbs

..and a time to laugh...

Ecclesiastes 3:4