A Story

I'm a storyteller by nature.  So let me tell you a story about what happened this past Tuesday.

Todd and I were sitting in a small family-owned cafe in a little section of Berkeley (California).  We were keeping the kids occupied with snacks and babyccinos (steamed milk with vanilla) awaiting Doug.  A few weeks ago, when we'd come into the city to dream and make plans and find a place to open the new store Todd has been working on, we went into a coffee shop near a farmer's market to get caffeinated.  While there, we saw a guy with three kids.  We noticed him because he had three kids and we had noticed, that really wasn't the norm in the Bay Area.  True to form, Todd struck up a conversation about the kids and local schools and how great a find this little coffee shop was.  Turned out the man Todd was speaking to was Doug, the owner of the shop, and he and his wife had lived in the areas of town we were looking into, he knew all the small business ins-and-outs that Todd was navigating, and his youngest will be starting Grade 1 in September, same as Em.  This was the hand of Providence in the unlikely form of a new friend, Doug.

So we're waiting for Doug and the kids see some ladies with a dog.  They ask the dog's "mommy" if they can pet him.  The ladies look somewhere in the early to mid 70s and like they've been best friends through many a storm.  There is a wisdom and ease with which they carry themselves and a genuineness that is rare to find.  As her father's daughter, Em starts a conversation that leads to a grown up conversation with Todd and me.  Doug and his coffee appear somewhere in the midst of this new conversation and the kids, Doug and I take off down the street towards a park.  Todd is still chatting, and Doug and I are chatting.  No big deal.  It's small and slightly irrelevant conversations-- where's home?  how long have you been here?  what does your wife do?

By the time our coffee date with Doug is over, he gives me a hug, a proper hug and says, "Give me a call, day or night, if you need anything.  And send me a message about the house hunt, I'd love to help you out."  The thing is, he means it, and my heart is eternally grateful because he's BEEN there, he's DONE that, and to have someone to ask about it all, it's just sits well in your soul.

On the ride home, Todd sends his new girlfriends an email, then googles her, only to find out that she (who loved the kids names and knew each author, which never happens) is an award-winning poet.  She volunteers in the local schools teaching poetry and is an acclaimed psychologist.  She and Todd had spoken briefly about the store he's opening, the concept, how it all came about and why it's bringing our family to Berkeley.  This morning Todd gets a message from her asking after sheets, because if his store will sell them, she'll wait until August.

The point of this story is to reveal, in some small part, our hearts.  We've always been "mission minded" (or some might say global-minded) but our missional living has been the thing that has brought us the most joy.  Todd and I have both come to realize that if we genuinely interact with people and relevantly invite them into our lives, our mess, we are better people for knowing them... and maybe, just maybe, they're better for knowing us.  We found in South Africa that our hearts would come alive from interactions with PEOPLE, so we met and interacted with a lot of people, from different races, ethnic backgrounds, economic levels with a diversity of education.  There was a 'right'ness we felt in those interactions, with people of our own faith and people who weren't.  In some ways, that tired old line from Jerry Maguire is true:  You complete me.  Only for us, we found that "you" was broad and included many, many people because in big and small ways, each of those people have shown us a new picture of our Creator, and even if they didn't mean to, I'm so thankful for each snapshot.

I'm still heart-sick about being here and not there, both physically and metaphorically.  I'm sad that I'm needing to navigate schools for Em and that she has completely missed, in it's entirety, kindergarten/grade 0.  (Seriously, think about it-  no "first day" pictures, no graduation at the end, no proper opening or closing of this section of childhood, this opening of educational doors... no transition for her, and nothing for her mama to help find some footing, ease into this new world of "big school.")  At the same time, I'm thrilled to see my husband with that fire in his eyes, that hitch in his giddy-up about life because it's been a long time.  So to the nuts and bolts.  There's a terribly long and fabulous story about how and when and where, but Todd connected with the owner of a company (Urban Mattress) and is opening a store in Berkeley, California.  They signed the lease agreement on a store in a great location last week.  We're still trying to figure out how to open a small business and move to a highly competitive housing market and enroll Em in school all before August 1... among other things.  But first and foremost, we're extremely grateful to have a job, have a trajectory in life that fits with our hearts and are praying for a place to lay down our heads... on our own sheets... with our own towels, even if that's on a floor in some rental in a new city we haven't yet discovered the wonders of.