Sisterchicks in Sombreros (29 page)
Read Sisterchicks in Sombreros Online
Authors: Robin Jones Gunn
Part of me was dying to stay there and just watch. My sister was a lit-up ball of glimmers. I could almost imagine that if I pinched her just right, she would burst and millions of minute particles of brilliance, like ecstatic stars, would fill the terminal.
Turning and making my way back to the gate where a flight to Vancouver, BC was waiting for me, all I could think of were Augustine’s words,
“I came to love you late, O Beauty so ancient and new; I came to love you late.”
E
verything in me changed
after that trip to Mexico two years ago. I went from knowing God by the numbers to growing into a close relationship with Christ. That affected how I loved Ethan and our girls and everyone else, including my new brother-in-law, Matthew.
Yes, he fell for my sister in a big way, and she fell right along with him. It was the most adorable thing to watch the two of them together. Joanne brought Matthew home for Christmas right after our cruise, and Aunt Winnie kept saying, “Is this Russell?”
My ever-clever sister said, “No, Aunt Winnie. You keep forgetting. Russell is my dog.”
Matthew and Joanne now live about twenty minutes from us, but they’re hardly ever home. In the five months since they’ve been married, they have been to India once to carry out
the work I’ve been helping Joanne to organize. They’ve been to San Felipe twice. The first time was for their honeymoon. I know. I would have selected a location other than the silver time capsule for my honeymoon. But then, I’m not Joanne, and she’s not me. We’re almost twins, but not completely twins.
Part of the reason they returned to San Felipe the second time was to finalize the paperwork on the property. Nearly a year after Joanne and I signed the papers at El Banco del Sol, we still hadn’t received our approved copies. On their last trip, Matthew negotiated with Señor Campaña with far more success than Joanne and I had. As of two months ago, Joanne and I officially became joint owners of Uncle Harlan’s beachfront property.
To date, over 250 of the 300 lots at the resort down the road from us have been purchased, and construction has been nonstop. Joanne and I continue to collect business cards and phone calls from soft-spoken folks who nonchalantly tell us they wouldn’t mind taking the property off of our hands, seeing as the trailer is so run-down and all.
What those investors managed to discover, but Joanne and I failed to figure out, was that Uncle’s Harlan’s property isn’t just the cement slab and bunkered area where the trailer is located. Uncle Harlan owned the equivalent of nearly ten acres, and it’s all beachfront. His property, or now I should get used to saying, our property, ends at the edge of the Rio del Mar Resort. It seems the resort won’t be able to set up the kinds of beachfront concessions they would like unless they can purchase some of our property.
It’s a problem my husband has loved working on. He and Matthew have approached it like a big game of chess and have made one trip to San Felipe together and have another one planned for early spring. The two of them are determined to go fishing on this upcoming trip. Both men have promised, or should I say threatened, to bring home a marlin for Joanne and me.
I should mention that Uncle Harlan’s marlin arrived at Aunt Winnie’s safe and unharmed, nose intact. Georgio used so much bubble wrap that you would have thought the shipping box contained a small whale instead of that grumpy black marlin with the creepy evil eye.
I will always be glad that I was at Aunt Winnie’s apartment the afternoon Mr. Marlin was delivered. I will always regret that my sister was also there, freshly moved from Toronto. Aunt Winnie circled the beast in her Scoot-About and barked out directions for Joanne and me as we set the poor thing free. We unwrapped and unwrapped until the shimmering blue line could almost be seen striped across his leaping body.
“Here he is!” I announced, as the last layer of padding was pulled away. “Mr. Marlin!”
Aunt Winnie leaned close, eyes squinting. “That’s him all right,” she declared with an unbridled disdain as poignant as any line ever delivered by Captain Ahab. “Hideous, isn’t he?”
Joanne and I kept our lips sealed.
“Throw him back in the sea!” Aunt Winnie shouted with a wave of her hand. “I don’t ever want to see that ugly creature
again. Who’s ready for tea? Is it hot in here to you?”
“Told you.” Joanne leaned close so that only I heard her.
Sometimes it’s good for a younger sister to affirm her older sister, so I smiled sweetly and said, “You were right, Joanne.”
Then I reached over and pinched her good on the underside of her arm. Just because.
Log on to
www.sisterchicks.com
for updates on Robin’s next Sisterchick novel—
Sisterchicks Down Under
—coming April 2005!
1. Why do you think Melanie felt a wave of panic when she arrived in San Pedro and saw the huge cruise ship? Have you ever had a similar feeling?
2. Do you think you would have tried eating something exotic like escargot the way Melanie and Joanne did their first night on the cruise? Share a time when you’ve done something outside of your comfort zone. How did you feel afterward?
3. The first evening on the cruise, Joanne and Melanie’s dinner companion Robert tells them about how God is always dreaming up adventures we could never imagine. What are some of the God-adventures you’ve experienced, and how were you changed by them?
4. If you’ve been blessed with a biological sister, what do you most enjoy about her? How has she impacted your life?
5. Joanne reads the following Augustine quote to Melanie. What part of this quote did you relate to? Why?
“I came to love you late, O Beauty so ancient and new; I came to love you late. You were within me and I was outside where I rushed about wildly searching for you like some monster loose in your beautiful world. You were with me, but I was not with you. You called me, you shouted to me. You broke past my deafness. You bathed me in your light, you wrapped me in your splendor, you sent my blindness reeling. You gave out such a delightful fragrance, and I drew it in and came breathing hard after you. I tasted, and it made me hunger and thirst; you touched me, and I burned to know your peace.”
6. Have you ever been in a situation like Melanie was with Rosa Lupe, where you were a stranger and yet you were treated to extravagant hospitality? How did that make you feel?
7. What was it that made Melanie, Joanne, and Rosa Lupe connect as true Sisterchicks despite the language barrier? Have you ever bonded instantly with a fellow Sisterchick? Details, please!
8. When was the last time you felt the freedom to do something spontaneous and fun like the water fight Melanie and Joanne started in the street in San Felipe?
9. Are you more like Melanie when it comes to having fun by cleaning up like the Boxcar Children? Or would you rather relax in a hammock like Joanne? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each?
10. Do Melanie and Joanne remind you of a couple of sisters in the town of Bethany who opened their home to Jesus and his friends in the New Testament? What are some of the similarities? (Refer to the book of Luke
chapter 10
and the book of John
chapter 11
.)
11. Why do you think it was difficult for Melanie to relinquish her life and enter into a more free, open, and grace-filled relationship with the Lord like her sister had?
12. Joanne tells Melanie she’s “protected under a sombrero of God’s grace.” How has wearing that sombrero affected you?
13. Joanne is entering her next season of life with a new dream and a new love, and Melanie is experiencing an exciting, fresh relationship with Christ. What does the
next season of your life look like? Have you embraced it, or are you keeping the rocking chair of worry busy without going anywhere? What are some ways you can passionately pursue life?
Sisterchick n
.: a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat.
Helsinki or Bust!
Ohh, yeah … these gals are gone!
“Deliciously fun!
Sisterchicks on the Loose
is the feel-good book of the season!”
—PATSY CLAIRMONT
,
Women of Faith speaker and author of
Stardust on My Pillow
Meet two very real women who have become unlikely best friends. Sharon is the quiet mother of four; Penny is a former flower child. Their twenty-year friendship takes a surprising leap when Penny plans an impulsive trip to seek out her only living relatives in Finland. The land of reindeer and saunas holds infinite zaniness for these two sisterchicks. They find their hearts filling with a new zest for life and a fresh view of the almighty God who compressed the stars with His hands and flung them across the universe.
ISBN 1-59052-198-6
Sisterchick n
.: a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat.
Former College Roomies Make
Waves on Waikiki
Some dreams take a while before they come true. Best friends Hope and Laurie never made it to Hawaii during their college years. But when they’re about to turn forty, the islands still beckon, and off they go—with an unexpected stowaway on board. A little pineapple, a little sunshine, and a surprising little surfing lesson give these two sisterchicks all their crazy hearts could hope for—and more—as they enter the next season of their lives with a splash and with a beautiful vision of what God has dreamed up for them.
ISBN 1-59052-226-5
C’mon and say, “G’day!” and join two Sisterchicks on their adventure to the land of kangaroos and koalas in …
