When I was 19 I drove from Dallas to Houston to visit my friends Jen and Leslie when we were all home from Baylor on summer break. There was no GPS (the mid-90s of it all) so when I left Leslie’s house her mom wrote out detailed directions for me to navigate my way through the outskirts of Houston to find the highway back to Dallas. I got lost once and called her from a payphone. She figured out where I was and explained how I needed to turn around and get back on track. I did…but got hopelessly lost again. I pulled over into a shopping center and went into a grocery store. I was too embarrassed to call Leslie’s mom again so I called Jen. She put her dad on the phone. His calm voice made me think of how my own dad would be doing the same for one of my friends in this situation and I burst into tears, half because I was upset, and half because I was just knew, despite having only met Jen’s parents once or twice, that Kent was going to come to my rescue. He asked where I was. I looked around and through distraught tears I said “By the shopping carts.” He suppressed a laugh and said “I mean, where are you geographically? What city?” I figured out that I was in Meyerland and Kent, Carol, and Jen all got in the car and drove across town to get me. It was almost dark and everyone (including my parents when I called them) agreed I was done driving for the day. I spent one more night at Jen’s. Their family’s sense of humor was exactly like that of my own family…they teased me all evening and kept me laughing although Carol’s mom side came out and chastised them to stop (I didn’t mind the teasing at all, but will never forget her sweet mothering). Kent and Carol barely knew me then but went out of their way to show kindness towards a college girl with no sense of direction and I’ll never forget it. They were fun people and raised a fun daughter who is one of my best friends. I’ll miss them.