Lost and Found

That moment when the universe deigns to help a sister out.

After driving through pouring rain to Williamsburg, I find my handwritten directions, alas, woefully inadequate, making me quite certain I will never make my lunch date at Cochon on 2nd in a timely manner.

There's just one thing to do and only my lack of twigs and berries allows me to do it: I pull into a 7-11 to ask for assistance in finding the restaurant.

Just as I walk through the door, I hear an incredulous, "Karen?" from behind.

Like a guardian angel from a heaven I don't believe in, there stands one of Richmond's most gifted actresses - as gobsmacked as I am to find a familiar RVA face in a convenience store in the 'Burg - on a lunch break from her gig at Colonial Williamsburg.

When I share my navigational dilemma, she whips out her phone, shows me a map of the 'hood and walks me through the quarter mile jaunt to my destination.

Dazzling me with her stage-worthy smile, she sums up our serendipitous encounter. "It was divine timing!"

As it turned out, it was also divine eating - Asian-inspired Moody sticky ribs followed by a mammoth Wagyu burger with Cochon bacon and extra-sharp Cheddar, neither of which I was able to finish - although probably not for her since I happen to know she's a devout vegetarian.

Not so much me and a couple of hours passed with stellar conversation about shared D.C. roots (his, technically, were Northern Virginia, should I be inclined to judge), the value of waiting until you have some life experience to decide what you want to be when you grow up (again, both of us) and the pleasures of gardening (why do so many of us come to growing roses late?), before finishing out with Sally Sue's buttery lemon poundcake.

Talk, eat, talk, eat, talk some more. Now that's some divine rainy day time spent right there.

For the record, I was able to get home without assistance, thespian or otherwise.