I just had two rather random conversations.
I was faxing something for one of my ESOL students to her employer, when she out of the blue started telling me about her small group at church. They meet on Fridays, and she really likes it because they have a chance to talk about things and be open with each other and pray together and get to know each other. Last Friday apparently she had an especially good meeting; she came away feeling like something had been taken away from her, leaving only the best part. A friend of hers had just emailed her (before the faxing) to thank her for her prayers, because she also felt so uplifted after the meeting on Friday. My student remarked that you know the spirit was present with them that day, and she’s so thankful for that. then her fax went through and we parted ways.
earlier, a GED student I work with sometimes (used to be ESOL but then learned enough English to move to the GED program, and has stuck around to actually do it) stopped by my desk on his way to the computer lab. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was doing a variety of things (sending out ESOL reminders, reading a book, emailing nuns) to keep myself busy. Then he asked me how long I’ll be here, remembering how I’m only here for a short time. I told him, July, and of course he asked me about where I’ll be after this. I told him that I really don’t know. so we talked about Missouri, where my parents live, Ecuador, where I might be able to do more service, and then anywhere else an opportunity might arise. we talked about physics and the possibility for more schooling. he said “ah, I don’t understand you,” but from there went on to say that money is indeed not everything. We talked about marriage. we talked about how to find someone you need to stay in one place for a while, how that happens when people are in college, and how he’s not done that. he told me I’m too young for marriage, 27 or 28 is a good age for such things. we talked about travel and youth and how the secret to a long life is a happy life. he thinks he’ll live to be 100. I hope he’s right.
this makes me thing of the adage that you should talk to everyone you can because every once in a while, that person will touch you somehow and in some way you’ve not been touched or you needed to be touched at that time (but don’t let them touch you!).