don't hang up

You should know by now that where ever we meet, Karen will be late arriving.  It is not a sore spot between us, there are no fights about it, it just IS.  I sort of look forward to hearing the stories about what makes her late and now with cell phone technology, she can call and tell me her stories as I sit and wait for her.
We planned to get up at 4:30 (you know, 2 hours after we went to bed) and agreed to meet at 7:00 and get in one car to make the rest of a 2-hour journey together for a noon appointment in Palm Springs. We allowed plenty of time for stopping to pee, eat, and shop. At 6:45, Karen calls to say it is really foggy and um, well, she accidentally went back to sleep after her alarm went off and she'll be 20 minutes late. Twenty minutes in So Cal rush hour traffic is bad, just in case you weren't sure. So, since we're already on the phone, we keep talking as I drive to the meeting spot. We're discussing life and happiness and how sometimes when a problem doesn't go away,  the problem might be YOU. I said that in my best Iyanla Vanzant voice and then suddenly I hear lots of noise from Karen's side of the call. I hear a weird noise, like cards in the spokes of a tire! Oh people are honking at me! People are motioning for me to pull over! I see smoke!  I knew then that Karen was going to be way late.  Still, we don't hang up. She pulled to the shoulder of the freeway and exclaimed My tire blew out at Liberty Canyon!  Sheesh. If that isn't a sign from the Universe, I don't know what is. I turn my car around and go to pick her up as she calls AAA.
An hour and a half later, we are on the road again, sure we'll make it to the appointment on time. In fact, we're so confident on time that we stop at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf  in the middle of nowhere* to sample their peanut butter cookie and Dulce de Leche Latte.  We eat, we drink, we pee. We move on.
We arrive early to our appointment (keep in mind that had it been us meeting there instead of arriving together, one of us would've been late). We go to lunch, we visit with family, and just as the sun starts to set, we get back in the car that we're now sick of being in and make our way home (um, via the outlet mall in Cabazon).
While stuck in traffic, we made a list of things we liked hearing, wondered about, and fantasized about doing.
1. Is the car in front of us throwing glass at us?
2. It is for all intents and purposes not for all intensive purposes.
3. Being called a towhead is better than being called a butt head
4. We'll open a bag so you can taste it! It is our policy!
5. If we ever own a bakery or cafe, we'll leave out cards for the customers that ask Was the cookie too dry? Was there enough cinnamon in the muffin? Was the banana bread banana-y enough? Really, we want to know. Tell us the truth.
6. If we teach a journaling workshop at Art Unraveled next year, will people sign up for it and buy our book or will it just be one or the other?

* Nice guys from ZZTop held the door open for us and the barristo (or is it baristo or barista?) warmed up the cold peanut butter cookie. Now that is service you just don't get at Starbucks!