New Friends in Brownstown

Today was a great day. The rain we got yesterday cooled things down so much and the run was incredibly pleasant! I ran the whole thing, finished in under 3 hours and was smiling through most of it!

The best part though came in the afternoon. We ended in a little town called Brownstown (of no more than 750 people) and were trying to find a place to park and sleep in our RV. Mom and Dad found a church that was only a mile away from the end of our run. We drove to First Christian Church and asked the presiding minister, John Robinson, if it would be alright to park in the church’s parking lot. He was a very kind man with an even kinder smile, and immediately said that was fine, and for us to feel free to come in and use their AC during the afternoon if we liked. About an hour later as I was stretching in the RV, there was a knock at our door. It was John who asked us if he could take us out to lunch. He took us to this quaint diner called “Mark’s Cafe” that I had run past earlier. Everyone knew the minister and he introduced us to the family who owned the place. The food was fantastic – I had a cheeseburger with fries and a slice of strawberry cake that was incredibly delicioius. We had a lovely lunch, sharing the story of our journey and learning about his parish and family. Before we left, John asked if he could let his grandkids knock on our door later that afternoon to get the grand tour of our RV…… And a few hours later, Lexi and Skylar -(8 and 5 years old) knocked on our door with timid smiles and excited glimmers in their eyes. We gave them the grand tour and what excited them the most were the cabinets full of Famous Amos cookies and Starbursts. After chit-chatting with them and sending them off each with a bag of cookies and a packet of starbursts, it was no longer than 20 minutes when there was another knock. They brought their neighborhood friends – another Skylar, Bianca and Brian! All five of them piled into the RV and the first thing John’s grandkids showed them was the cabinet full of cookies! We visited with these sweet kids for awhile and then after asking if they liked to run, and getting a hearty “Yes! It’s good exercise” from Skylar, I ran for a block with the kiddos outside……with Thom documenting everything. It was a very sweet afternoon. We waved goodbye to the kids, who were still bursting with energy and delight (And sugar) and then Thom and I returned to the RV.

The kids returned about four more times after that – to say thank you and just to say hello again.

My heart feels very full tonight, and my stomach too after eating my own bag of Famous Amos cookies for dessert.