That was three years ago. Jill has been to Tustin to see me five times already. She’s been to Paris three times and has two more grandbabies.
Her most recent visit was last month, and I think that’s what prompted me to write down our story. That and the fact that to celebrate Jill’s visit, Tony strung a big hammock for us between the orange trees. “Ray’s orange trees” we now call them.
Jill and I tottered out to the hammock the night she arrived, armed with a mound of comforters. We got ourselves balanced—a very important aspect of any form of art, including verbal scrapbooking. There, beneath a canopy of orange blossoms, we cut and pasted our favorite shared memories such as sipping mocha lattes at the Chocolate Fish, painting Jill’s walls and Dorothea’s red fingernails, the fallen lawn hobbit, the above-water ballet troupe, feeding the kangaroos, the lights on Sydney Harbor, and Evan the singing punter.
Then, because I’d waited a long time to do this, I sat up straight and said, “Jill, don’t move! There’s a lizard—”
I didn’t have a chance to finish my joke before Jill turned the prank on me. In one motion the two of us were tumbled down under once more. This time it was only down under the emptied hammock, where we landed together on soft California orange grove soil.
We laughed until the neighbor’s dog started to bark. Then, with all the comforters tucked around us, we settled into the best years of our friendship like two sassy mama birds swaying back and forth in a big, fluffy nest. We were at home with each other. No matter what side of the globe we were on. We both knew it would be that way the rest of our lives. And forever.
Discussion Questions
1. When she arrives in New Zealand, Kathleen finds herself without a close circle of friends for the first time in her life. Have you ever found yourself in a season of life without a single close girlfriend to share the journey with you? Did you go looking for one, or did one find you?
2. Why do you think Kathleen never took on the nickname “Kathy” before? Do you think she went back to “Kathleen” when she returned to California? Have you ever had a nickname that marked a significant change in your life?
3. Do you think Kathy would have agreed to drive a vintage truck in California, or did she jump at the chance just because she was in New Zealand? Have you ever found it easier to try a new experience when you’re in a brand-new place?
4. Did Kathy seem like the kind of woman who was given to extreme mood swings the way Tony observed after she knocked over the hobbit? Or were the emotional dips and highs all part of the adjustments she had to make in order to find her place in Wellington?
5. Have you ever felt like you were eighteen again? What experience prompted that feeling?
6. Why was it hard for Jill to talk about Ray with Kathy? Do you think Kathy did the right thing to simply listen, or should she have asked more questions about Ray earlier?
7. What did you observe about the ways Jill processed her grief? Have you experienced grief in your life? If so, how did you process it?
8. How do you feel when you are around people like Dorothea? Have you ever known someone like Mr. Barry?
9. Why do you think it was important for Jill and Kathy to get away and have a little adventure in Christchurch? How did that experience bond their friendship? How have adventures bonded some of your friendships?
10. Have you ever been amazed by an animal the way Kathy was enraptured by the kangaroo? What was it, and how did it affect you?
11. How would you have answered the question Jill asked Kathy: “Do you think God is fair?”
12. What did Jill mean when she told Mad Dog she wanted him to have all of his life back?
13. How did Jill and Kathy both receive and express “extravagant love”? How do you see that kind of extravagant love showing up in your life?
14. When they see the painting of the Victorian woman on the shore, Jill tells Kathy that she holds a treasure in her hand, although she doesn’t yet know what it is. It later turns out to be forgiveness for Mad Dog. What unrecognized treasure do you hold in your hand?
THE GLENBROOKE SERIES
by Robin Jones Gunn
Come to Glenbrooke … a quiet place where souls are refreshed.
SECRETS Glenbrooke Series #1
Beginning her new life in a small Oregon town, high school English teacher Jessica Morgan tries desperately to hide the details of her past.
1-59052-240-0
WHISPERS Glenbrooke Series #2
Teri went to Maui hoping to start a relationship with one special man. But romance becomes much more complicated when she finds herself pursued by three.
1-59052-192-7
ECHOES Glenbrooke Series #3
Lauren Phillips “connects” on the Internet with a man known only as “K.C.” Is she willing to risk everything … including another broken heart?
1-59052-193-5
SUNSETS Glenbrooke Series #4
Alissa loves her new job as a Pasadena travel agent. Will an abrupt meeting with a stranger in an espresso shop leave her feeling that all men are like the one she’s been hurt by recently?
1-59052-238-9
CLOUDS Glenbrooke Series #5
After Shelly Graham and her old boyfriend cross paths in Germany, both must face the truth about their feelings.
1-59052-230-3
WATERFALLS Glenbrooke Series #6
Meri thinks she’s finally met the man of her dreams … until she finds out he’s movie star Jacob Wilde, promptly puts her foot in her mouth, and ruins everything.
1-59052-231-1
WOODLANDS Glenbrooke Series #7
Leah Hudson has the gift of giving, but questions her own motives, and God’s purposes, when she meets a man she prays will love her just for herself.
1-59052-237-0
WILDFLOWERS Glenbrooke Series #8
Genevieve Ahrens has invested lots of time and money in renovating the Wildflowers Café. Now her heart needs the same attention.
1-59052-239-7
Robin Jones Gunn, Sisterchicks Down Under
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