She's really real!

I got to meet Susan!

And she's real : )

Left to right: Susan, me, Hannah (my sister), Hannah (Susan's sister), Katie (a.k.a., Miss Shirley)
Not pictured: Any of our brothers or parents.

My family was in Georgia overnight this weekend for a wedding we were attending, and in God's providence there was time enough for Susan and her family to travel down to meet us for an early supper at Ruby Tuesday's. When we got the invitation to the wedding about a month ago, I immediately ran down to the computer (I know, I should've just used an atlas. After all, I am a librarian...) to see how far away the wedding was going to be from Susan's town. To my delight I found that it was only about 30 miles away!

I wanted to e-mail her right away, but I still didn't know if we'd actually be able to attend the wedding. Until I knew for sure that we would indeed be going to Georgia, I didn't want to mention it to Susan, in case it didn't work out. So I had to send and receive several e-mails throughout August-- and not mention something I was really excited about wanting to happen! But finally, the week before the wedding, we had all of our plans squared away, and it was a fact, we were going to be in Georgia for the wedding! I ran down to the computer and replied to one of Susan's e-mails, throwing in just a line or two at the end asking if she would be busy on Saturday the 12th. The next thing I knew, I had a message from her saying that they were actually free that day, after several days of traveling and visiting in Kentucky. Hooray!! After almost a year of corresponding, we were actually going to meet face to face. How fun!

I called her from the hotel on my cell phone, and got to hear her voice. She had told me earlier that it wasn't "particularly high or feminine," but I would say it was just perfect for her. Quite feminine, and very pretty. (And she has very good enunciation. My grandpa would've been proud of her for that : ) As a music and choir instructor, he would always remind us to "e-nun-ci-ate when you speak.")

We pulled in the restaurant to see her family climbing out of their van- and Susan said that they had driven by our hotel and had seen us getting in our van : ) I'm glad now that I posted that picture earlier of my siblings and me, so she was able to easily recognize us!

Our visit was unfortunately very short, since we were on a very tight schedule to make it to the wedding on time, but I'm glad we had as much time as we did!

Head on over to Susan's to read a bit more about how our friendship began : )

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PS- I almost forgot! Here is the official report you've all been waiting for!!

Susan Garrison does not, I repeat- does not have cataracts OR gappy teeth, no matter what her profile image may lead you to believe.