We chose the Towne Centre because I have connections there at banks and other businesses. I dropped off Jung, our Korean student at UC Riverside and then discovered that I'd left my cell phone at home. Good thing I only live 2 minutes away, because I was able to meet Cara in the parking lot of the new Chase bank branch at the time we had agreed upon. We placed Dove chocolate bites in my gilded basket, added some lead cards for women who wanted to enter a drawing for a free facial, and in cute Mary Kay dressy style, we entered the Chase Bank lobby.
The floor manager greeted us warmly, listened as Cara explained our wish to honor the ladies there, and she accepted some chocolates for herself, took a slip to fill out for the free facial drawing, and gave slips and chocolates to the two tellers, who kindly filled out our slips too. It was the perfect time to stop by, because the bank was totally quiet.
Onward we went across the driveway to my bank, Provident, where teller Christine, who grew up with my kids at the Bible study I taught in my home in the 1980's, was out hanging up a banner promoting home mortgages, along with a male realtor. The two of us caught up, I introduced Cara, and we let her fill out a free facial slip and enjoy some chocolate. On the inside, one female teller was on duty, so I let her know about our drawing and treated her to some Dove bites.
As we walked out, Christine told us there were many more women over in the mortgage office around the back. So we approached the ones who weren't busy on the phones, and gathered more lead slips. I never realized where that back door led, so it was cool for this ever-curious person to find out!
We concluded a successful venture that would allow me time to get to my 10:00 hair color appointment on time. Meanwhile, Cara would be heading back over to Starbucks to do some booking calls, and after my hair appointment I had two facials lined up at home. We were off to a good uplifting start to a busy business day. "The hand of the diligent makes rich," Proverbs 10:4 says!
As we walked out of Provident, Cara asked for her car keys, and I told her I didn't have them; she'd tossed them into my giant designer bag, which I'd left along with my car keys and both our cell phones, just before Cara had manually locked her car! Whoops, we were now in a pickle!
We returned to Provident, asked to use a desk phone so Cara could get the number for AAA road emergency service. Now we needed to find someone with a cell phone who'd let us use it. The friendly realtor lent his phone and Cara called. We now, at 9:45, had a 45 minute wait. So much for my 10:00 hair appointment. I prevailed upon the realtor to let me call the salon, which I did several times, getting no answer! Unbelievable for a Friday at a big salon, but this was turning into an unbelievable morning already.
I thought I might as well go over to Senator Emmerson's office, where my daughter Heather works, not too bad a trek unless you're wearing high heels like I was. When I told Heather and her co-worker David what had happened we just had to laugh. It truly takes two people to make a monumental goof-up like Cara and I had achieved. My concept was to get a ride to the hair salon. So Heather and I set out driving around the Towne Centre when I decided I might as well wait with Cara for AAA because I'd need my car, and as Cara pointed out, how would I pay? We cooked up a couple of ideas about her bringing me my purse, and Steve's caregiver taking me to get my Jeep later, but never mind. I'd just have to explain to my stylist why I was late, and see if she could fit me in. On my way back to the locked car, I noticed Dove bar bites on the asphalt--I'd left an identifiers trailing from my basket like Hansel and Gretel!
After the car was unlocked, due to a nifty ballooning device, Cara and I both went our ways to a successful afternoon in our businesses, unfazed by our morning escapade. No matter how foolish we can be, the Lord always goes ahead of us and solves the problem, giving a better result than we think possible. As God told David in I Chronicles 17:8,
I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you...
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