My Wednesday Daughter

My Anthea

Once upon a time --I think it was Advent or Lent one year-- Anthea began driving an hour to come to church on Wednesday nights for midweek services. We loved her. And once we actually convinced Rachel that Anthea truly existed and was not an invented & imaginary creature, they got to be good friends too. Anthea would come visit on Wednesday evenings, go to church with us, and then watch the results of that week's American Idol show with us.

We took to calling her our Wednesday daughter, and she called us her Wednesday family.

Then she moved to Texas. Many a sigh from Anthea. And her friends. And her bio-family. And her Wednesday family. When she makes it to her folks' in northern Illinois, sometimes she drives all the way out here to see us -- long haul though it be.

She's living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. So are Katie and Nathan now. But man oh man -- that's one big city. It takes forever to drive around it. Not having time to fit in a good visit at either home, we instead met Anthea (on a Wednesday!) at an Argentinian bakery not too far from the airport. We fit in a 75-minute visit and ate some awesome sweets and drank too much delicious "detox tea."

Ah, it's good to see her. She's still job-hunting. Our metro-area is still on her radar for possibilities if she can't find work closer to her hometown. It'd be sweet to have her closer. Especially if she's as good at scouting out northern coffee shops as she is at finding places in Dallas.