Storytelling Trip: Day 2 after the telling

After storytelling? Well, on the way back to my son's home we had to pass a Goodwill store. My car usually will not pass without automatically turning in at any junk shop. So of course we stopped. What I found:

Two handmade pottery mugs, a Chico's necklace, 2 pairs of new reading glasses (I buy these whenever I find them cheap because I lose so many pairs!), a bottle for the blue bottle bush, and a tiny silver bunny. Total cost: about $10.

Dinner was a reunion with my sister Theresa and her husband Jay. Daughter-in-law Jennifer put together a good meal of grilled chicken and burgers, veggie and fruit trays. Jennifer works full-time as a teacher, is completing her Masters degree in Special Ed in May, and has three teen/pre-teen daughters. She is a role model for her girls, and an inspiration to me. Although I'd suggested ordering pizza or something for dinner, her response was, nah. This is easy. And she made it look easy too.

After dinner, Theresa, Jay, two of the girls and I went to downtown Leesburg to see the construction of the Leesburg Flower and Garden Festival. I forgot my camera and regretted it, because the scene was amazing---10pm on the streets of the old town of Leesburg and the place was a madhouse of construction. Big lights glared down on workers who were wheeling in dirt, mulch and gravel, bricklayers and stonemasons at work, plants everywhere, cords, wires, hoses strung underfoot--I felt like I was backstage on a movie set.

Theresa attended Northern Virginia Community College's horticulture classes, and her professors were there with their current students, constructing their entry in the competition. Boys on ladders with power saws? Yep. We cheered as the cuts went through and everyone came down without injury. I could see that Theresa longed to be part of the action again--she'd been in charge of their display in the past and seeing the work in progress reminded her of the fun of the frenetic pace, the tension, late hours, and exhiliration when they'd place in the competition.

By midnight, we were in bed and sleeping soundly.