I love when life surprises you. I love when those ah-ha moments happen — when you expect something and you get something entirely different.

I should say first of all that I am immensely proud of my sweet Charlie. 4 days into potty training, or PT, the girl is rocking it out. We don’t want to get our hopes up, but I think the “light” might have clicked on…and not that there won’t be accidents, but to see her try so hard at something and then succeed at it…well there’s just nothing like it.

And tonight, yours truly succeeded at facing a fear that’s been eating at her for weeks…being the “new girl in school” and walking away from an evening with new friends feeling excited and well…not so lonely.

Now, I should say, God has blessed me with an immense, lovely and precious group of friends…here in Texas and in Chicago, and you know who you are. But being able to walk into a situation and being unsure that you’ll fit in and then finding out that you do and you actually have fun and feel like yourself and taste that sweetness of new memories and new conversation…well…it’s just totally worth all the waiting, isn’t it?

To make a long story short, a couple weeks ago Vann and I logged onto our home owners’ association’s website and began to poke around to see what was going on in the hood. I contacted a girl named Allison about a Friday morning playgroup, only to find out that the playgroup has long been disbanded (due to said playgroup’s kiddos venturing off to school) – BUT would I be interested in going to the monthly “Mom’s Night Out”? With trepidation (and only because I’m a total wimp) I began emailing with Allison about the MNO. She insisted on taking me and came to pick me up last night promptly at 7.

First of all, the girl is beautiful, funny, sweet as pie and has three children — ages 2, 5, and 9 (I think) — and couldn’t be more delightful. I was sick about it for days, seriously, and when we showed up at the restaurant I was immediately brought into the fold and embraced — and let me just say, it felt really good. All that anxiety about being liked and being accepted, melted away as we laughed, and drank, and talked about kindergarten and c-sections and post-partum and makeup and everything under the sun.

And so, after some more post-dinner drinks, Allison took me around the back way of our subdivision and showed me where the best place for carpool drop-off was, and gave me the name of her colorist, and also the name of some reputable OB’s in the area, and so on and so on. It felt fantastic to be loved on and we made plans to play and have lunch and get to know each other.

So life is funny that way. Just when you aren’t sure you’ll be found, you are. And God knew, all along, that it would happen. And aren’t surprises just the best??