I'm spending a work break enjoying free WiFi and coffee at the Panera Bread Company. Smog is hanging over the city today, a nice complement to high humidity and heat. Everyone is leaving Atlanta, I think. Even the restaurant felt empty today, almost like I think it would feel if we were at war or if a plague had just ripped through the local population. Whether it was a mysterious illness or just a reflection of the smog, you could see a grey and formless oppression settling into the features of everyone who was left today. Patrons, coworkers, other drivers on the road -- all of them looked resigned to a hot, damp, weighted-down weekend.
But my coffee's good.
I got a note from a supporter yesterday. Despite being a fan of protecting other people's privacy, I've got to tell you her name: Virginia Alexander. Isn't that something? I got a pink envelope with a guilded address label on it which said, happily and grandly, "Virginia Alexander." I looked at it while I finished the correspondence in my outbox. Later, I carefully opened it and pored over the delicate scrawls, listening to a woman from Barboursville tell me about her life and wish me well in mine.
A thee-page note can mean a lot, when it says that someone is taking you seriously and prays for you often. As far as unexpected incidents go, I think it was the most validating and also humbling thing that has happened to me since I was accepted to teach English in Vietnam about 14 months ago. Of course, I ended up doing something other than teaching in Vietnam, but when that sort of thing happens, you feel singled out, awkward and special all at once.
That's how I felt yesterday. I folded up the letter to read again in a few days, and prayed for about an hour, the sort of thing I don't have the time to do and just as truly don't have the time not to do. Even in the smog and the heat, I'm walking a little more steadily through time than I have been, lately.
It helps to hear from cooler climes.
Posted by nickles at July 1, 2005 04:54 PM | TrackBackOne of our local grocery stores closed recently. On the day before it closed I strolled through the aisles that were as bare as could be with lone items strewn about the shelves. I imagined that something terrible had happened, some terrorist attack upon our food supply system, it was... relieving.
Posted by: jkrue at July 1, 2005 10:41 PMBob, some prelimary details on your upcoming missions work would be tremendously helpful, for purposes of informing my church...
Posted by: funkefreak at July 2, 2005 11:15 AM