Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes! (23 page)

T
he Call Came at 4:15 on Thursday afternoon, five days after I had returned from the Netherlands.

“Normal” was the word the medical assistant used.

“Normal?”

“Yes, normal.”

I fumbled to ask the “why was it different last time” question instead of the “what’s next” question I had prepared myself to ask.

“Given your family medical history, it appears that your doctor wanted to have a closer look to be extra careful. He saw something in the mammogram and wanted to be sure everything was okay. Apparently you have dense breasts.”

I hung up and looked down at my chest. “Don’t listen to her. You two aren’t that dense. A bit droopy maybe, but all of us need a little more support as we get older.”

I dialed Wayne’s number at work and repeated the good news. He was choked up and told me four times how glad he was. Then he said he wanted to take me out to dinner. Chinese.

I realized that, for my husband, going out for Chinese food was similar to the Dutch going to eat pannenkoeken when they needed a place to gather their thoughts.

And Noelle was right about the Dutch word for pancakes. The more I repeated it to our kids while telling them about my adventure, the more fun it was to say.

After agreeing to meet Wayne at the Chinese restaurant in an hour, I sat down at the computer and typed the word
Normal
in the subject line of my e-mail to Noelle.

“Normal,” I said aloud again. “Normal.”

It amazed me how much life could happen between the words
abnormal
and
normal
. Those sixteen days of unfolding grace had changed my heart and my life.

I realized that, genetically, nothing had changed. Cancer could well be the vehicle that one day would take my earthly body on the inevitable float down the canal to eternity.

But not this day.

This day was for living. For fully living without giving way to fear.

Wayne and I dreamed big over our pot stickers and Kung Pao chicken. He told me he’d always wanted to go to Argentina since his grandmother was born there. Perhaps, he said, we could put away some money and travel there in a year or so.

I was all for it.

I woke the next morning at 3:15—Lingering jet lag, it seems, was one of the souvenirs I had brought home with me. After padding downstairs, just as I had done two weeks earlier when I
was awaiting Noelle’s formal invitation to visit her, I sat in front of the computer’s glowing screen.

With a few clicks of the mouse, I waited for my e-mail file to open.

There it was. Noelle’s response to my “Normal” pronouncement from the previous afternoon. I tried to picture where she was at the moment, which sweater she was wearing, and whether she had a new bouquet of tulips adorning her dining room table.

The last line of her e-mail was the best. After offering her cheers for the diagnosis, she wrote, “Jelle and I have decided to take you up on your offer. We would like to come the first week of June to see you and your family for five days before flying on to Wyoming. We’re going to see my father.”

With happy tears filling my eyes, I typed back as quickly as I could. The subject line of my e-mail contained one simple, perfect, life-changing word: “Come!”

1. Summer’s response to the news of an abnormal mammogram was to bake cookies and plan a trip to Holland. Have you ever received a scary medical report? If so, what was your response? If not, how do you imagine you would respond?
   

2. Summer and Noelle maintained a long-distance friendship for much of their lives. When the opportunity to meet in person presented itself, Summer realized there was so much she didn’t know about Noelle (such as her gait when she walks and whether or not she wears perfume). If you imagine your first meeting with God upon your arrival in heaven, which of His characteristics do you wonder about?
   

3. Upon meeting Noelle’s husband, Summer was mortified that she mispronounced his name. Sometimes we find ourselves in awkward situations due to cultural or language differences. Share a time when you felt embarrassed at your own cultural naiveté. What helped you through the uncomfortable feelings?
   

4. After a candlelit dinner with Noelle and Jelle, Summer felt honored by the leisurely time they had spent
   together. Think of a time when you felt honored by a friend or a family member. In what ways did that person show honor? What impact did that event have on your relationship?
   

5. In the tulip fields Summer felt like a child experiencing one of the simple wonders of the world for the first time. Describe an occasion when you paused to take in the beauty of God’s creation. What did you see or hear? What wonder did it stir in you?
   

6. As Summer awkwardly milked the cow at the dairy farm, Noelle admonished her with these words: “The next time you face something new that you think you don’t want to do, remember this moment, Summer. Remember this feeling. You can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you.” Describe a time when you had to rely on Christ to strengthen you in order to do something outside your comfort zone. How did you feel? What did you learn about yourself in the process?
   

7. Summer was perplexed at her own quick judgment when Noelle told her that Zahida was a Christian. Have you ever assumed something about another person only to learn that the opposite was true? Was fear or prejudice at the root of it? How might you respond today if you were to encounter a similar situation?
   

8. During their visit to Corrie ten Boom’s home, Summer mentioned having a “tender flash.” She described it as “one of those heartwarming moments when heaven suddenly seems real. What follows is an unexpected calm, accompanied by a feeling of anticipation, or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a longing for home, as in heaven.” What does the idea of a “tender flash” bring to mind for you? When have you felt a longing for heaven?
   

9. During their friendship, Noelle and Summer occasionally experienced long stretches—sometimes months—of silence. Yet they were good at picking up wherever they had left off and taking their friendship on from there. Share about a Sisterchick friendship of your own that maintains a strong bond even over time or distance. What are the ingredients that keep that relationship thriving?
   

10. As Summer and Noelle floated down the canal in the wooden-shoe boat, Summer’s out-of-character response was to laugh and to wave at the people along the water’s edge. Sometimes life presents circumstances that are beyond our control. Do you tend to get serious in such a situation, or do you allow yourself to “go with the flow,” so to speak? How might a little humor help you through something beyond your control?
    

11. At the museum in Amsterdam, Noelle and Summer realized that Noelle’s choice to move to Holland had changed the course of both of their lives. They agreed that they liked the way things had turned out. What is one choice you made in younger years that took you on a particular path? How would your life be different had you chosen a different option? In what ways can you see God’s hand in the direction you took?
    

12. Just as tulips reminded Summer and Noelle of God’s unfolding grace, their Sisterchick friendship unfolded into full bloom as each woman shared the deepest cares of her heart. With whom do you share your deepest cares? How does that person help you experience God’s unfolding grace?
    

Hello, dear Sisterchick!

One of my greatest delights in writing the Sisterchick novels has been the journeys I’ve taken around the world while researching the location of each book. (I know, what a writer’s dream!) If I could take you with me on these adventures, oh, what a time we would have! Since that’s not possible, I thought you might enjoy seeing a few snapshots and hearing a few of the stories behind the story for
Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes!

I met Anne at the Frankfurt International Book Fair fourteen years ago. (We look so young!) We found out both of us were novelists, and from there the similarities kept growing. Our fast-formed
friendship has taken us many places around the world for speaking and writing opportunities. Anne has lived in the Netherlands for more than twenty-five years, so whenever we see each other, it’s because one or both of us have “jumped across the puddle.”

Robin and Anne in the early yean

V
ISITING
A
NNE IN
H
OLLAND

When I turned fifty, my wonderful husband gave me a heartfelt gift to celebrate the fact that it had been ten years since I’d had a series of surgeries, including one where a malignant growth was removed. His gift was a plane ticket to the Netherlands so I could visit Anne in her home. No writing or speaking events were planned for this visit. Just Sisterchick time. However, being an incurable storyteller, I confess that I came home with a little story
in the back of my mind. It was a story about a couple of Sisterchicks in wooden shoes who didn’t let fear make all the decisions for them.

Anne in Delft as she showed me the market square

The pancake restaurant in Delft with Vermeer-like window

At lunchtime during our day in Delft, Anne and I found a restaurant that served the much-advertised pannenkoeken. When I went upstairs to use the rest room, my experience was very close to what Summer experienced in the story. The window resembled the
windows that appeared in Vermeer’s paintings, and the view seemed as if it hadn’t changed in hundreds of years. I grabbed the vase of tulips that adorned a corner table at the top of the stairs and grinned broadly for the shot. We found out later that Vermeer’s original house had been torn down years ago, but it had been located very close to the house that had been turned into a restaurant. With their being so similar, it was easy to imagine Vermeer
sitting in such light by such a window while painting
The Girl with the Pearl Earring
.

I loved this little antique and curiosity shop. I bought two genuine Delft tiles here: one for my mom and one for my sister. Did you notice the wooden shoes in the right bottom corner? Yellow even. More than once I have regretted not buying a pair of authentic wooden shoes while I was there. Why? I don’t know. Just because. That’s why Noelle had to persuade Summer to pick out a pair of wooden shoes.

Antique shop in Delft

The characters in the Sisterchicks novels have chances to do the things I only wish I’d done when I was visiting the countries featured in each book. Such as float down a canal in Amsterdam in a wooden-shoe boat. I floated in a traditional tour boat, but when I saw this little honey of a boat, I thought,
Now
that
would be the way to go! My
imagination took it from there.

The yellow wooden-shoe boat in Amsterdam

In the same way that Summer was stunned when she entered the New Church in Delft and found it to be stark, I was surprised when Anne took me there. Such grandeur on the outside but so stripped down and solemn on the inside. I missed the softness
that art and beauty bring to an environment. At the same time, the lack of lots of décor allowed for a simple, clarifying time of reflection, which is what happened with Noelle in the story.

Delft church

Its all about the tulips! Even though I’ve visited the Netherlands on several occasions, I’ve not yet visited at the height of tulip season. However, my original Sisterchick, Donna, and I found a field alive with blooming glories a short drive south of where we live near Portland, Oregon. Oh, the bliss of bobbing along in a field of such beauty!

Me, taking time to tickle the tulips in Oregon

Yes, this is about as silly as any author would want to appear while in the midst of all-important research for a book. I needed to
get in touch with my inner Dutch woman. Every time I look at this picture, it makes me laugh. Maybe it will bring a giggle to you as well.