January 30, 2008. San Antonio, Tx. Antiques.

It is wonderful to have a mission. David told us last evening while watching the replays of "Antiques Roadshow" that he wanted a piece of furniture for their bedroom. He wanted a very nice piece of antique furniture, either a long buffet or a hutch. Suzanne mentioned that if we are looking for the large piece, two smaller tables were needed too. After accompanying the girls to their cowboy breakfast at school, Ken and I measured the spaces and then headed out to the antique stores of San Antonio. Now we have shopped often in these places, but just to be sure, Ken looked up all the places on our new GPS and sure enough, a large antique store was six blocks from their home. Their furniture was beautiful but expensive, but we were pleased to find this fine store just around the corner. We headed down to our old haunts and found much less expensive furniture, but also not as nice, so we kept going. Nothing quite fit the bill.

On our way over to our favorite stores, Ken spotted a sign for antiques so we quickly made a U turn. Our system in stores is efficient. Ken and I start at opposite sides of the store and when we meet in the middle, we tell each other what to look for, then when we have each seen everything in the store, we compare notes and check out the possibilities. If something wonderful strikes both of us, I call David. No calls have been made to David yet, and it was past two o'clock. We got lucky. The last store we saw had one smaller table and two large buffets. When I described them to David, he came right over with his truck, chose the best of the large pieces and after paying, loaded the two on his truck. Fortunately, Suzanne was at home, so Ken and I were able to direct the action while David and Suzanne unloaded the furniture and put them in their place. I must say that the furniture in their place looks lovely. Ken and I had a mission, which was accomplished.