If you have been following our blog this week then you are probably tuning in to read what happened next on the Serentripitous Journey that Heather, Cheryl, Misty, and I took last Sunday. We left my house at 8:00 a.m. with no destination and only one simple set of instructions: follow the letters S-H-I-N-E until you discover something in your travels that shines.
We had help along the way, so if you are just tuning in or you want a refresher on how fate got us to this third leg of the trip, click here and read our posts from Monday and Tuesday.
A serendipitous journey is, in fact, a nice analogy for life. Isn't it? We are never fully certain where our paths will lead us, so along the way we take comfort in signs that assure us we are headed in the right direction.
Nothing says, "You are headed in the right direction" better than the "B Happy Ranch".
So we slammed on the breaks and decided to leave them a message of our own. We came on our trip fully stocked with stickers, t-shirts, and postcards, so before peeling out of their driveway we placed House of Shine stash in the owners' mailbox.
And then, a mile or so down the road, we saw another sign.
Oracles, like accidents and good news, should come in threes. The bright yellow slide was the third and final sign that we were headed in the right direction.
Settled. The letter "H" led us to Granbury, Texas and it was time to figure out why.
But, not before we paid homage to the Granbury post office. We did the only thing a self-respecting House of Shine reader would do. We sent mail the good old fashioned way. Everyone agreed that it would be fitting if our postcard was mailed to the one and only person in our House of Shine rolodex whose last name begins with the letter "I". Cheryl did the honors.
The four of us were working up an appetite, so we introduced ourselves to a man who was about to pull out of the post office parking lot. Charlie was gracious enough to sign our shirts and to make a recommendation for where we should eat lunch.
His suggestion wasn't Babe's, but we couldn't resist the picture in light of events earlier in our day. To be honest, we didn't quite understand Charlie's directions, so instead we ended up driving into Granbury's town square just before noon.
Fun shops were everywhere, but only one was already open and above it hung a sign that read, "Artefactz: A Shop of Creative Expression". It was admittedly the perfect fit for women from the House of Shine, so we went inside and immediately fell in love with the fantastic lady working there, Teri. We wandered the store uncovering all sorts of treasures. Cheryl found a hearts shaped necklace with wings on either side (made by the owner Cynthia James) and, though she did not end up getting it, we all agreed that it was perfectly reminiscent of the flying yellow envelopes she creates for our Yellow Envelope Project. I found a beautiful beaded bracelet and, of course, Heather and Misty were perfectly restrained and fiscally responsible.
By this time each of us felt a little like we were running on empty, so we had Teri sign our shirts and tell us the name of her favorite restaurant in town.
And that is where the four of us enjoyed a lovely lunch, served up with side of great conversation.
Tune in tomorrow to find out how the letter "i" found us and what happened next...