Rhonda Bracey: At Random

My trip south from Dallas included a stop north of Austin to meet up with a friend I hadn’t seen for 10 years. Shari and I had worked together (via the internet) for several years, for our professional organisation, and it was great to catch up with her.

Next stop after lunch was Helotes, on the northern outskirts of San Antonio, where I was to meet Kelli’s parents for the first time and stay overnight with them. Who’s Kelli? you might ask. Well, to cut a long story short, she’s a gal who lives in Colorado who I ‘know’ via Twitter. One of her colleagues in Phoenix, where Kelli used to live, put us in touch several years ago as we both do crafty things with fabric. Kelli’s Mom is a quilter and her parents are a similar age to me, so Kelli introduced me to her Mom via email and it all snowballed from there once I knew I was coming to Texas to their part of the world.

Suffice to say that I didn’t know Kelli’s parents at all, but figured they must be nice people as they raised such a ‘together’ daughter. They must’ve figured I was OK as I was a friend of Kelli’s (even though Kelli and I have never met), seeing as though they invited me into their home to stay overnight prior to my quilt workshop week in New Braunfels, Texas (about 40 miles away).

I arrived around 4 pm and I don’t think Kelli’s Mom and I drew breath until we all went to bed around 10:30 pm! We have a LOT in common, not just the quilting. Kelli’s Dad had trouble getting in a word edgewise 😉

Sunday morning was leisurely with a late breakfast (and more chatting) with Kelli’s parents, followed by me hitting the road and driving north again to New Braunfels, where I was meeting a distant cousin for breakfast. Tom and I met last year in California and we have a common ancestor from about 1750! We had lunch at the New Braunfels Smokehouse, which does traditional German-style smoked meats. Tom and I both had the Reuben sandwich, and caught up on our respective news.

So, it was a good 24 hours of meeting an old friend, making new friends, and catching up with a relative.

Next stop — the quilting workshop!