The Girl and the Towels.
While my roommate Jenny and I were buying a wedding present for a friend, a girl about my age who looked to be from India held up two towels, one bright orange and the other vivid yellow. In heavily accented English, she asked me (not the sales lady standing in front of us at the register) what the difference was between the two towels and which one was better to buy.
The sales lady did and said nothing, didn't even acknowledge her. So, I, knowing decidedly little about towels in general, went over to the bright towels she held up and rubbed both between my fingers. I tried to give her the pros and cons of both... this one is thicker... this one will air-dry faster... both are 100% cotton... this one will feel softer... and, ultimately, asked, "which one do you like better?" She said some form of thanks and rattled off in another language on her cell phone.
I walk back over to Jenny who is still trying to check out (the sales lady was apparently having trouble... as we were the only two people checking out and it was taking longer than it probably should have). A minute later, the Indian girl is back. "Which color should I buy?" I smiled and looked at Jenny. Surely the girl wasn't serious. I looked back at her. No... she was serious. "Whichever one you like the best!" I told her. "I don't know. Please help."
So... I leave Jenny to figure out whatever was going on at the register and meet up with the girl at the towels. Again... I try to ask practical questions... "what color is your bathroom?" Uhmmm... white? or tan? "What color do you like?" I don't know. I've never bought towels before. My mom always buys these kinds of things. "Well... I don't recommend this shade of green because it wouldn't look good with tan walls." No, no... I don't like that one. And etc... finally we narrowed it down to 3. And because it became evident that she really did want me to pick out a color for her, I suggested the bright orange since it was one she had grabbed in the first place.
I return to the register, surprised that Jenny still wasn't waiting for me. No, in fact, the sales lady was still trying to ring up the few items we had set on the counter. (She explained that she normally worked "downstairs in cosmetics, but had to come upstairs because they were so short staffed tonight." This struck me as amusing since Jenny and I and the Indian girl were the only ones up there and I had already spotted more than 3 store employees... but I digress.
Again the Indian girl comes up and asks me what else she needs and where to buy a bed and other furniture. At some point earlier (I think while trying to decide on towel colors), she had introduced herself and explained she had just moved to Hillsboro to start a job at Intel. She had an empty apartment and needed to buy everything she needed.
I recommended sheets and several other items... and at one point she was asking where to by shower curtains. Because we were at an expensive store (gotta love where wedding registries take you, eh?), I suggested Target or even Dollar Tree for some things... not that money seemed to be an issue for her. I just can't imagine fully furnishing even an apartment for the kinds of prices she would be paying there. It was pretty amazing. That definitely doesn't happen every day.
On the plane - Part 1.
Sunday en route to St Louis, shortly after receiving my little plastic cup of sparkling water from the flight attendant, I managed to dump its contents on the tray and my lap. The guy sitting next to me across the aisle gave me his napkin. After I mopped up my mess and recomposed myself a bit, I struck up a conversation with him.
Turns out this 30-something guy was from Canada (great accent!). He asked about my work and had an interesting expression when I said Luis Palau is an evangelist. We continued chatting about a number of things... then... he brought up Luis again. "So, an evangelist? What religion is that?" I answered him, "Christian." "Oh, what does he do? Go around tellign people about Jesus Christ." "Yes." And the conversation dropped for a second.
Meanwhile... inside me... I kept feeling prompted to ask the guy about religion. And I knew I wouldn't be able to live with myself for shutting down such an obvious open door. I would always wonder what would have happened...
As soon as I asked, his expression and body language told me that he had quite a lot of thoughts and feelings on the subject, and what ensued was an intense discussion. What had once been a chit-chatty discussion with plenty of silence between small talk turned into a full out dialogue for at least half the flight.
He had been raised Catholic. His mom died 6 years ago and he hadn't been back to church since. He's tired of hypocrites and tired of religions that create a list of don'ts. He doesn't believe in ghosts and isn't sure what or who God is -- but he's not an atheist. I told him what came to mind and I only pray it was the Holy Spirit speaking through me.
After things fell quiet for a few minutes, I picked up the conversation about his travels and work and family and other interests of his again. As we deplaned, I told him I hoped his work in St Louis would go well. "Thanks, dear," he said. "Yours too."
Work Training.
Traveling to St Louis as often as I do with my boss lends itself to getting to know each other better. John is old enough to be my dad. And the consultant we work with in St Louis could be my grandfather. This particular time, there must have been something in the water or the air because both men were completely kooky all afternoon. Though discussing development issues and strategies (and really managing somehow to still cover quite a bit), both kept dropping corny jokes and spent a good amount of time laughing like school boys. It was actually pretty funny to watch. I would never have imagined either of them like that when I first started my job. I guess stress gets to all of us in different ways...
On the plane - Part 2.
Returning to Portland, I had a layover in Salt Lake City. I ended up sitting next to a 34 yr old Mormon mother of 4 who was currently studying sociology at Brigham Young University. Within the first 2 minutes of the flight, she had asked where I worked and what religion "evangelist" was from. Here we go again, I thought to myself.
She was taking a religion class where she had to interview people of other religions. She started telling me the kinds of things the Church of Christ pastor she interviewed had told her, as well as questioning what he meant by a lot of it. (She had asked him what beliefs they followed, and when he answered "The Bible" she was annoyed. "But what beliefs in the Bible?" she probed, quite unsatisfied with the answers he tried to give.)
In talking to her, I was surprised how many fears and misunderstandings she had about Christians. She was a pretty hard-core Morman... clearly had grown up in it and it was all she knew. She wanted to know which religion of Christianity I was from. I told her I grew up in a Baptist denomination but was currently attending a non-denominational church. She wanted to know if we were always fighting in church since it was non-denominational. She didn't realize that Christians (should) hold to certain core beliefs. She didn't know how the canon was decided or why there were so many translations of the Bible and which one I "followed". And... so many more things...
We talked about other things too like travel and family and random things. We had a lot in common as far as modesty, family values, and other such things go -- which may have come as a surprise to her.
Anyways, two for two on the flights this time. It was kind of intense.
Wedding dress shopping.
Sarah has asked me to be in her wedding this summer! So, for the first time in my life, I have gone wedding dress shopping -- at least 3 times in January -- not only to find her gown but what I'll be wearing too. We're still looking.. but at least we're closer. All I can say is this (for those of you who have never been): it's much more exhausting than you can imagine.
Other news of the New Year.
- My sister visited me over the MLK Jr weekend. (YAY! We had fun!) Unfortunately, my computer freaked out and scrambled the memory card with the pictures... so... visual documenation of her visit is forever lost. (sigh. sniff.)
- I bought a new mattress set -- and am sleeping much better now!
- I had one of the best lattes I've had in a long time at a new coffee shop I tried when a friend was visiting town. What was really fun is that they served us in glass mugs instead of the standard paper cup. And the latte itself was sooooooo smooth and delicious!
- I totally ruined a batch of chocolate chip cookies... and this time I was pretty much following the recipe (I promise -- no strange ingredients or substitutions or anything!). A friend was over and Jenny was home, so my shame was witnessed by 2 others. They tasted delicious ... they just looked horrible.
As long as this post is, this only scratches the surface. This has been an interesting year so far... I think I'm going to like being 24!
