We never know when we will be surprised, do we?  The trick, I think, is never closing our minds to the possibility of surprise — so that we can be surprised by the most ordinary to the extraordinary of occurrences or experiences.  Surprise brings with it grace, and that’s hardly a surprise!

So it was quite a surprise yesterday when driving through our neighborhood at the D.C. maximum speed limit of 25 mph, that I saw out the window a couple walking arm in arm.  Lovely, I thought to myself.  It was the first mild 35 degree and sunny day in a week.  It was a lazy Sunday afternoon.  It was a route we regularly drive and one I often walk.  And I realized that I recognized the couple!  I had just seen them on TV last Monday, his hand on her shoulder as they talked to others before the lunch following the inauguration.

It was Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton!  They had a small dog on a leash and two Secret Service men walking at a respectable distance behind them.

And then we were past. But I was thrilled to have seen them!  No pictures to corroborate my story, however, but none needed.  There wasn’t time anyway.  And sometimes the picture we capture in our memory is perfect, such as it was yesterday in my D.C. neighborhood on a grace-filled Sunday afternoon in January.