Female Fun in Fort Worth

Yesterday was beautiful.  Not just the weather, the entire day.  My family strolled through the day without a care in the world and no agenda until Adam took the kids camping.  They are currently asleep on the TCU baseball field.  I like camping, but when given the option of going camping or spending some time by myself, I choose myself.
Last night I met my friends Stacy and Helen at Rodeo Goat for burgers and fun.  Stacy and Helen both went to high school with me, and oddly, they still don't mind being seen in public with me.
After burgers, we piled in my car and went downtown for Main Street Arts Festival.
I love festivals in downtown Fort Worth.  I know how to get around, so instead of wondering which way to walk or decide on a defined route, I get to focus on people. It makes me happy to be in a familiar place full of people because I know I will meet fascinating folks.
Since I was driving, I also gave Stacy and Helen a mini-tour of downtown FW, Boyette-style. ("That sign says Burnett Plaza is for tired moms.  That is FUMCFW.  The guy that owns that restaurant makes sandwiches for  homeless ladies.  Best burgers in town at Blue Tower.  Police Cat Fluffy lives there.  Library!")
Here are some photos of our adventures:

At this point, we had just parked the car.  Woohoo!  After at least 15 minutes of sitting in traffic we got a parking space! (Yes I know it's kind of lame to take a picture after parking a car.)

Inside the old Fire Station No. 1 is Fort Worth's smallest museum.  150 years of Fort Worth all celebrated in one room.  Here Stacy reaches for the stars and hopes for 150 more.

Helen who is a marathon runner.  If you call her that, she'll blow it off like it's no big deal, but this lady runs marathons!

I decided to sit side saddle and try to make the cheesiest picture possible.  

Here was our first new friend.  We all got to touch that awesome hair!  Really, anyone that spends that much time to perfect a look deserves applause.

This was our friend Willie at Green Mountain Energy.  Stacy actually filled out an advertisement form (she loves the environment), so we got to talk to him for a long time.  Another lady came up and was patiently waiting to ask if she could have some candy.  Helen and I tried to fill her purse.  She acted like she was really hungry and this was the only food she was going to get.  We kept urging her to get more, and then even Willie said, "Girl, you help yourself."

The lady that took this photo for us missed how to use the flash.  Oh well.  We are supposed to be the Wild Bunch.

Street preacher.

One of the highlights of the night was the street preachers.  As a person of faith myself, I am always fascinated at how differently the message of God's grace sounds from a street preacher.  Also, I have to applaud these people who feel that the only way they can save the world is by doing this.  They suffer ridicule but are still out on the corner preaching.

I didn't get to have a long conversation because Stacy and Helen were with me and I had embarrassed them enough, but I would have liked to compare notes.  If their goal is to share the consequences of people's actions, I think they got me beat.  I don't do that.  But if their goal was to share the message of God's love, I would be curious to how many people they were able to engage in conversation or to offer love to.  Because for me, sharing God's love last night included lifting a stroller over a curb for a frustrated dad, offering my koozie to a starving artist, sharing Willie's candy with a hungry lady, admiring an afro, offering compliments and admiration on artwork, and actually looking for people to engage in conversation with.

All the street preachers were on one quadrant and at each corner, they had a different tract about going to hell.  I made sure to get all of them for my pal Jason.  The best one was a "Get out of hell free" card.  At the last corner, when I engaged the preacher in conversation, I complimented him on the marketing brilliance of creating a tract that looked like a Monopoly game card.  He asked where I got it and I pointed to another corner of the square, where the African-American man that gave me the card stood.  The preacher said, "Oh, I don't know about him.  He's not with us."  That was so interesting to me, because these guys are standing about 20 feet apart doing the same thing, and they hadn't talked to each other?  

Then the street preacher asked me if I had been saved.  I told him I was a big-time Jesus lover.  He looked confused.  "I love Jesus.  Big time.  Go ask my friends."  He looked very uncomfortable like he wasn't sure if I was lying or not.  I guess people don't often come up to him and admit to being a Jesus lover.  I enjoyed throwing him for a loop.

I can't wait to hear how the camping trip went.