Well, Then

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to get going on this business of becoming Orthodox. I'm healthy enough that I can, and conveniently there's one right down the street from my house. In fact, as I mentioned before, that's the very same Orthodox church that I visited nearly two years ago, where I know people! Already we can see God working in the details, no?

Oh, but it gets better.

I found out that there is a Vespers service on Saturday nights. Of course, at the time, I was working Saturdays, but then the Chamber threw some overtime my way, and I had to quit Coffee Place again, thus opening my Saturdays for other things. So my next Saturday working was my last. That was two weeks ago.

Last Saturday, I went to Vespers, hoping that the terribly outdated website was still accurate. As I approached the building, the first people I saw were members of one of the families I know from my first teaching gig. The new situation anxiety was pretty low as it was, but in that moment, it went down even more. Lisa, the mom, is the singer, so she decided Grace would show me the ropes, sort of act as my tour guide through the service. Grace was an excellent tour guide, too.

Afterward, everyone congregated in the lobby area. A former student named Spud tackled me in a hug, which was fun. I met the priest and his wife, and while I was meeting the priest's wife (who shares my name- hilarity ensued) another lady came charging at me, exclaiming, "Ai!" Or, rather, "爱!" for she was reading my necklace.

You read Chinese!

And, simultaneously,

"Do you speak Chinese?"

Suddenly we were speaking Chinese, then talking about China... languages... she wants to learn to read Russian... Um. Geez.

Everyone else was stunned for the two or three minutes that this went on. Eventually, they were able to break in. They asked what brought me to St. Peter's.

The short version is that I need to become Orthodox.

They all nodded in complete understanding. They've all been there.

The longer version is a little complicated and I'm not sure I understand it all, but there is one part that involves a boyfriend [insert description of The Boy].

Language Lady, Nora the Exuberant, exclaimed, "I heard about you!"

WHAT!?!????

"I don't remember who told me, but there was someone telling me about you and your boyfriend."

At this point I decided it would be a very bad idea to start swearing, so I shut up pretty quickly. Until a few minutes later, that is, when she announced that she knew who had told her. It was a Toastmaster. She told me about why she was associating with this particular Toastmaster, and finally said his name.

That's my DAD.

Oh good grief.

Well, Nora the Exuberant and Father Patrick both suggested that I go to this class that was starting on the 11th. That very Tuesday. How convenient!

Of course I went. And an unexpected former student was there, and he, also of Baptist upbringing, decided that I needed to help him process afterward.

When I related all of this to Counselor on Thursday, she laughed through the whole thing, and she was reduced to "Dang!" as her only working comment. Of course, she did eventually regain her vocabulary. She told me that she hadn't been sure what this process would do to me. She's supposed to protect me where she can, she said, and there was the possibility for a lot of bad things. But with Saturday and Tuesday, well, she thought that was pretty clear confirmation. There was just too much to be coincidence, even if there were such a thing. I agreed. The way those two evenings went, there was really no room left for argument.

This is for real, folks. :)

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