What are friends for?

Last spring we had a wonderful womens' retreat in our church.  It was a weekend of relaxation and renewal in a spa-like atmosphere- for those attending.  For those of us planning,  it was a hilarious journey of panic and stress.  After months of hip deep snow and sub-zero weather, the director was determined to give us a weekend of inner peace.  And she did.  It was a beautiful weekend that ladies are still talking about.  We had many wonderful speakers and scrumptuous food.  Then she got the idea of Tai Chi exercises.  She had the name of an older woman in the community who was familiar with the process and she agreed to come and lead us.  The morning of the retreat I was jarred out of a blissful sleep by the sound of the phone.  It was the director's husband, apologetically calling for his wife.  On hindsight, she probably thought I would not say no to him.  I imagined her sitting in bed with the quilt covers up to her nose as he started dialing.  He went on to relay the bad news that the woman leading the Tai Chi class was stuck in a blizzard in North Dakota and would not be at the retreat.  He gently explained that his wife wanted ME to learn the moves and lead the class in just a mere six hours.  What?!  Assuming this was all a bad dream, I laughed and pinched myself.  No luck.  I was still standing there in my jammies, hair standing on end, clutching the phone in silence.  What was she thinking?  When the phone was passed to my friend, I hear the panic in her voice.  This is the first retreat she has ever put together. In fact, she finally revealed that she had never even been to a retreat and she didn't know what she was doing and needed my help.  Then she told me she already emailed me the link for the exercises and would I please...   The real panic hadn't set in yet for me, so I reluctantly agreed and went straight to the computer to look at the nine stretches.  I watched a video on someone doing some of the moves and thought (famous last words)  how hard could it be?  So I printed the exercises, grabbed my coffee and headed off to work.  Yes...  I had to work that day and would be practicing the moves in my head all day long until the retreat.  I admit during recess duties, I gave furtive glances around me and practiced a few moves.  My co-workers, of course heard the story and were in stitches all day long waiting to hear how this would all turn out.  to be continued...