Fall Fiesta

Cool Mary is BACK!!!!  The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta opens tomorrow night.  Good times.  Good times. 

We have many many plans.  Mary has been focusing her talents lately on Nature Photography, but she will be turning her lens toward the balloons, the friends, the frijoles ... There will be food.  There will be drink.  There will be SCRABBLE. 

And mucho sight-seeing. 

Not much blogging. 

But I'm thinking of you and there will be pictures and stories later. 

Feels Like Family

Yesterday afternoon I went to a coffee for the ladies at the church. 

It was easy, laid back, laughter, and good times (with cheesecake).  I was uptight.

I know its silly.  But well, the whole point of this get together was to match people up into partnerships of mentor and mentee.  An intense get to know you exercise lasting for six months.  So here I am, with my cup of juice balanced on my knee and I'm more uptight than I've been in a long time.  Because this isn't just sitting on a pew at church, this is putting myself in a place where I'll be vulnerable. 

The last several churches I've been in have been large.  No one got to know me well enough to figure out whether I have odd beliefs.  But I do, have a few odd beliefs. 

So I don't want to be a mentor to anyone else, because I don't want to have to encourage someone in a direction or path that I don't walk.  Neither do I really want to be a mentee.  At 44 years I've been through a lot in developing my strange theology.  I know it may seem a little arrogant, but I'm not looking for a teacher, I just want to walk how I walk.

There I was with my cookie, my juice, and my slice of cheesecake.  Listening to the other women I must admit that I felt a deep warmth and welcome.  I really didn't want to mess it up and I knew that if I went through with the whole thing, I'd blow it.  I'd not just be the new woman, I'd be the strange one.  I didn't want to walk away.  So there I was. 

We took a break. 

A lovely woman, leader of the BAG ladies made her way over to speak with me.  She asked me a question or two.  And then she said, "I just want you to know that I plan to put down on the paper for you to be my partner."

She's 74 years old.  She's been a widow for 30 years.  She's irascible and she's happy.  She's got long long gray hair that hangs down her back in a braid.  She told me that the first time she saw me in church, I felt like family.  And she told me that she wants me to teach her some crafting ideas that she can use working with the little kids. 

As we talked I learned that her life has been hard in ways that I can't imagine.  She has outlived a child and raised a grandchild.  She's lived through abuse and known amazing love. 

For the next six months, I'm going to have a lot of opportunity to spend time with this woman.  I don't think she cares whether I have an open theology, or whether I believe that the Bible is inerrant. 

I think that she only cares that when she saw me in church, I felt like family.