Divine Appointment

I haven't thought about occurences that appear to be "Divine Appointments" for a long time. It was one of those catch phrases that got overused and I quit using it because it seemed cheesy for some reason. Not the process....just the phrase.

Okay - since it has been a while...I looked up the definition...because this phrase has popped into my brain unwillingly so many times this summer.

Dictionary.net says an appointment is: a meeting arranged in advance. So Divine appointment would be a meeting arranged in advance by GOD. I have had these. This summer.

Talking in the bathroom to a team mates mom, I got a job - no interview. AND the job is wonderful. I love it. That HAD to be a Divine Appointment.

That is pretty amazing and quite exciting in and of itself...but this next one is so much fun and gives me such hope. And we all know that hope is a wonderful thing. This story has many levels that seem to be focusing toward a single happening, so try to stay with me. I get a little wordy when on a tare...patience please. It all happened like this -

Coming home from Crossville, Tennessee, my husband and I talked and talked about an idea we have for a book. It would be a non-fiction work about our travel through Tennessee. We got all excited as we talked about it. I think it would be amazing. Certainly it was fun to plan it as we traveled through the beautiful country on our way home.

We were planning on stopping in Chatanooga and visiting a couple of our favorite places before catching the Lookouts game at AT&T Field. We stopped and ate at Blue Plate Diner, one of our favorite haunts there. As we were getting ready to leave, a man patted the boys on the head and chuckled and my thoughts were, what a sweet man, when my husband said, "That's Tommy Lasorda". Nah....really? I asked the cashier and she said yes, so I grouped the boys (that includes my husband) and encouraged them all to go say hello to him. He was THEE nicest man. He talked to the boys, signed a Hall of Fame card with his name on it to each one of them. I thought it was amazing that he took the time to shake their hands, tell them to grip firmly and look the person in the eye as they greeted them...made them practice it with him and wished them his best. HOW THRILLING!

So we were buzzing as we walked in the rain to our next favorite haunt, Rock Point Books.

We were amazed and happy to see MoonPie had a nice area there that we had never seen before. So we browsed the books and fun t-shirts and such and I bought the boys an RC Cola and a MoonPie - because really - it is such a rite of passage for a southerner. We sat down to eat and amazingly enough there was a radio program being broadcasted - live. So we got a free show while eating - which was so much fun.

It was David Magee, who is an award winning columnist there in Chatanooga. His show was entertaining and educational and he was truly the nicest guy. He was talking about Tommy Lasorda being in town and how they were going to have him on the show but Tommy didn't have the time. So J went up to him during a commercial break and showed him his signed card from Tommy. He let J, S and G hold up their cards signed by Tommy Lasorda and showed the boys on his NATIONALLY syndicated program. Thrilling for me...because I am such a glory hog. Can't help it - seems to be hard wired.

He signed a book of his for us called, MoonPie-Biography of an Out of This World Snack. Seriously, it is a great book about the history of the MoonPie and the bakery there in Chatanooga. He thanked us for coming to the show and we walked out all excited about our great day. We went to the game, watched Tommy (because in my head I know him now) as he got inducted into the Chatanooga Hall of Fame and whooped and hollered as the Lookouts played their game and lost in 14 innings to the Diamond Jaxx. Still - pretty happy about our day - we headed home.

Now, today I sat down to blog and look up the website for David Magee, I find that not only does he own Rock Point Bookstore, he is THE FOUNDER of Jefferson Press - look what it says about this publishing company - "We specialize in regional books, with an emphasis on nonfiction categories such as history, travel, folklore, and biography."

Okay - really - even if this does not happen - how cool is even the possibility of pitching my husband's and my idea to this company?

It is absolutely delicious. And it is another Divine Appointment. It makes me giggle.