We have had good friends here from California since last Saturday. And yes, we are still good friends. The week didn’t discourage or damage the relationship one bit. It seems that as you get older, it gets a little harder to find couples that you can spend lots of time together with, without feeling like you can’t wait to get back to your routine, or just get back to being the two of you. But this week showed me something. It showed me that blessings sometimes come from the least place you would imagine.

I knew that we would have a great time because we have spent so much time with the friends who were here. They are friends who we have spent weekends with up in Big Bear, California at their home. For a real treat, go to the search engine in my blog and put in Labor Day in Big Bear and read quite a comical essay on our “relaxing” weekend. These are the same friends who almost killed us with “relaxation”, but even then, we came away with a friendship that showed us how truly special good friends bless our lives, if we survive some of the plans they come up with.

Because we hadn’t seen Bonnie and Arnie since October, we welcomed them with open arms and just couldn’t wait to show them Dallas and all the good food that Texas has to offer. Upon their arrival, we headed down to Lover’s Lane to eat at Celebration Restaurant, home of comfort food. We were so excited to be able to catch up that first night over meatloaf, chicken fried steak and baskets of cornbread, it would just be the perfect beginning.

We were seated at the last table available next to a party of about 12 people who got louder with each glass of wine. We couldn’t even begin to hear ourselves talk or think. We just gave up and ate in silence. The food was great but we left with headaches. As we stepped out of the restaurant, we all just stood there and went, “ah…listen, quiet”. It was then and there that I realized that we are now true seniors. As Triple A will tell you, when you are couples riding in a car with the women in the back and the hubbies in the front, you know you are seniors. At the end of the week, we wanted to show them downtown Dallas and thought it would be great to enjoy the first sunshine we had seen all week, so we headed down to the Nasher Scluptur Museum.  We didn’t get there till 4, so not only did we  get the senior discount, but we go in for , “buy one, get one free”, since we got there an hour before closing. Randy is a happy camper now.

But…Randy and I figured that one of the best ways to show off Dallas was to take them into Highland Park and let them see how the other half lives. So we headed down to show them where Jerry Jones lives and the first shopping outdoor mall in Dallas, Highland Park Village. We are acting cool and sophisticated as we tell them that we will go into Starbucks and sit with a cup of coffee watching the Bentley’s and Rolls Royce’s drive up. This is where it gets good. We go into Starbucks and Randy and I tell them it’s out treat. (are we big spenders or what?) So we walk up to the counter and I order a tall Pikes Peak coffee for Randy. The cute little 15 year old, ask me again what I wanted. I repeat the order; a tall Pikes Peak coffee. Randy inches his way beside me and tells the little cutie, “she means a tall Pikes Roast Coffee”. They start laughing and the customer next to us, starts laughing and says, “that was so funny, you just automatically said, Pikes Peak”. I huffed around, wishing that I could grab up her Louis Viton purse and hit her over the head with it. But, I figured that I would just get away from the counter as quickly as possible and go sit with my other old friends. Knowing that we have been to museums all afternoon and my hands could use some cleaning, I see a huge bottle of hand sanitizer sitting right there on the counter by the cash register. So I did a double pump wiping my hands all the way to my elbows back to the table, when I notice people looking at me. Boy, I guess maybe they are looking at my new hair do and how cute I must look. I sit down next to Bonnie and tell her to take some of the sanitizer off my hands, I guess I did get just a little too much. So we are sitting there wiping our hands together when Bonnie says,” my goodness this sanitizer is just getting stickier and stickier.” We both keep wiping our hands together and I think, maybe it is one of those that has to dry but after about 5 minutes.  I can’t stand it any longer, we both get up to go wash our hands when I hear Randy coming back with all our coffees, saying, “everyone behind the counter is wondering why you pumped coffee syrup onto your hands?” OMGosh, why don’t I pay closer attention to labels? As Bonnie and I are walking through Starbucks to try and wash this sticky mess off our hands, people are staring at us and laughing. Apparently they all noticed that I had gone over and used coffee syrup as hand sanitizer. How do I regain “coolness” when I have coffee syrup on my phone and on my drink, I had even wiped my hands on my pants hoping to get rid of some of the excess sanitizer; now my pants were sticky and everything I had touched was so sticky that I had to bring back an arm load of wet towels to wipe everything off. We decided we had best get back to the side of town that allows senior moments to occur without laughing you out of the establishment. So we take our coffees and drink them in the car. We laughed for 30 minutes, remembering now how precious some of our most embarrassing moments can bring laughter and memories that will bind friends together for a long time.

We won’t ever go into a Starbucks again without remembering our afternoon in Highland Park. Some friends might have the memory of shopping St John together, but we came away with a great memory that cost less that $10. It doesn’t take lots of money to make a funny memory. Sometimes, it just takes a good sense of humor and a giant bottle of coffee syrup.

Senior Sightseeing…one of God’s little blessings!