Three weeks through already, and back in Connecticut…
The best memories: meeting new friends, catching up with old ones. Oh! It’s been wonderful! Thank you to all of you!
The worst memories: rain, rain, rain… oh, and driving in Dallas – eeek!! Yes, I know that for tens of thousands of Dallasians (ok, so that is probably not a word… yet. But you know what I mean!) it’s a daily, inconsequential part of life. But for me – unused to driving in the US, unused to driving on American six-lane highways, unused to a large car… and definitely unused to Dallas… it was definitely a case of … yikes, gulp! (You’ll be relieved to know that both the rental car and I survived the experience unscathed. With huge thanks to God, GPS, patient drivers, and probably a phalanx of harried guardian angels?)
On the tastebud side, introductions to… grilled catfish, real beefburgers, Dallas BBQ (wow!!), cornbread (they look like madeleine cakes) and “biscuits” (they’re savoury but look like scones), cajun clam gumbo and more.
And just when you thought that a Christmas store in May couldn’t get more surreal, how about some Christmas tree ornaments in the shape of pickled gherkins and avocados?
Most surreal experience… visiting a Christmas shop. In May 🙂
But of course the real reason for all of these and more is… Eden Undone. Some of the encounters have been planned – reading to a redoubtable book club in Memphis, appointments in Dallas, addressing a select group in Connecticut – but others… well, who would have guessed that I’d be reading the first few chapters out to a lovely taxi driver (thank you, Butterfly Taxis!) over the course of a long taxi ride? 🙂
And so this has been an incredible three weeks so far: the experience of a lifetime, meeting people and seeing Eden Undone sow seeds for the future; being both encouraged by, and encouraging others in turn…
One week left. Who knows what new adventures await before I return to the UK!?
Dr Ruth Nelson, Dallas Baptist University
Dr Tony Evans, OCBF
At Dallas Theological Seminary
Memphis, Tennessee
At Booksellers in Memphis… they had sold out of copies but were happy to let me pose with my own
In full flow at St George s book club
This–the entire tour–does my heart more good than you may know, dear Anna, and I am so not surprised your book and you have been so well received.
*hug* thank you, Faith!
And perhaps “next” time we’ll get to meet!