A Day in Des Moines

This farm girl spent a day in the city again over the weekend. Younger Son and I travelled to Des Moines so he could take part in a bachelor party which included a day of golf and dinner out in the evening. That left me to spend the day motoring around the Des Moines vicinity, doing some shopping for my bride-to-be daughter. She wanted me to try and find several large glass bowls to use at the wedding reception, so I searched at several Goodwill stores. I love to browse at second-hand shops, so what an enjoyable day I had! I did find a few bowls, and some extras----a couple tank tops, a few books, a mug with a good friend's name on it (for her birthday), a school-house bell for my son's girlfriend, and an odd wooden vase with MY name on it. That was weird, because, I never find anything with my name on it!

In the process of the day, I became better acquainted with Des Moines streets and roads, getting a better handle on how to get around in that city. Its not so bad, really, once you get familiarized. A couple times my route took me near to the golden dome of the state capitol building, gleaming bright in the sunshine. Suddenly, I was a sixth-grader on our spring class trip again, trying to get a glimpse of the capitol building we were about to tour. Somewhere I still have photos of that momentous day. I was so excited about that trip to Des Moines back then-----I couldn't even get to sleep the night before!

After finishing the Goodwill shopping, I made my way toward West Des Moines, stopping at Gordman's, Michael's, and Kohl's, checking out clearance racks and shelves. I'm drawn to the word CLEARANCE like a bee to a flower. I have this goofy notion that if I happen to find interesting things at clearance prices, then it must be "meant to be" for me to buy them! Its like they were put there just for me to buy, even if they sit in my closet for awhile......usually they turn out to be the perfect gift for someone, or just the right thing to wear!

In the evening, I was allowed to tag along to the Granite City restaurant with my daughter and some of her friends. There are SO many eating places in West Des Moines, it just boggles my mind! I had never heard of Granite City before, and I asked my daughter what its claim to fame was. She thought it was the beer they brewed. It was a nice place, high-ceilinged and too chilled with air conditioning. I ordered a Greek chicken salad----very tasty, with lots of tomatoes and olives. It was fun to listen to the girls talk. They were all high-school teachers. I sat across from my daughter the art teacher, who was next to a science teacher, who was next to a P.E. teacher, who was across from a foods teacher, who was next to a math teacher. What a variety! I found it very interesting when they discussed the challenges of having autistic students in the classroom----that must be fairly common now.

It was 10:30 p.m. before my son and I finally left West Des Moines for the three-hour drive home. Son instantly fell asleep, leaving me alone with the organized mayhem of I-80 and I-35 as they tangle and separate. I'm learning to negotiate all the right exits and on-ramps, and soon we were sailing north in the darkness on I-35, leaving the heavy traffic behind, thank goodness. I drank Coke and set the air-conditioning to very cool in order to stay alert. I kept changing the radio stations, trying to find some music I liked. A old Chicago song finally caught my ear, and my thoughts drifted off to here and there in the past. Suddenly the radio station went fuzzy and another one pushed through long enough for me to hear a men's gospel quartet sing this line very clearly, "Jesus satisfies my every longing". Then that fuzzed out and the Chicago song came back. It was sweet and strange----like a little message swooping in from somewhere, just for me. I thought, "Lord, You can speak that way to me anytime You want to!" Maybe He was letting me know the angels were watching over us as we sped along in our car through the warm summer darkness, making our way toward home.