Wednesday, July 19, 2006
I was almost discovered at dinner tonight.
This week, the monastery is playing host to a gathering of nuns from convents and parishes around the world. More of them wear smiles than habits, so it hasn't been too weird. My only mildly uncomfortable experience was with another "private retreatant" like myself who introduced herself at dinner tonight.
I forget her name, but basically she's a super peppy woman in her late 30s sporting a fanny pack and highlighted hair. She bounded up in the middle of dinner, sat down and said, "I've been wanting to meet you all day! How are you?" (breakfast and lunch are "silent meals" for the sisters, so you can't talk until dinner... they totally cheat and whisper, though)
We chatted a bit, and when I told her I was a writer she said, "OOOHHH! You need to meet this woman I met the other day in Hollywood. She's wonderful and putting together a group of Christian writers to try and make movies and TV better. You know they just put out the most horrible stuff these days."
Yep, I'm writing and marketing it.
Fortunately it didn't last long, and I was able to fake my way through it by throwing in a bunch of "isn't it just a miracles" and "that's a real blessing, isn't its". I'm such a fraud. She asked me to pray for her tonight, but I don't think that's gonna happen.
After dinner, I went for a walk down the hill and came upon an Irish nun in full habit and a Mexican novice. I was about to turn around, but they told me the road circled the monastery, so I just followed them, listening to my devil music on my iPod.
Let me tell you, those nuns can walk. That 60-something sister was booking down that road, and everyone she encountered stopped and waved. (Even if you're not religious, you don't want to take any chances... I get it)
I stayed about 10 feet behind them the whole way until we hit the hill to the monastery and they slowed down. I tried to walk along the long bit of the road to slow myself down, but it was no use - I totally caught up to them.
The iPod etiquette guide my friend Jon sent me doesn't have a listing for nuns, but I thought it safest to take off the headphones and chat with them. So what was the first thing this holy woman from Ireland said to me?
"You know, we passed Mel Gibson's house down there."
This week, the monastery is playing host to a gathering of nuns from convents and parishes around the world. More of them wear smiles than habits, so it hasn't been too weird. My only mildly uncomfortable experience was with another "private retreatant" like myself who introduced herself at dinner tonight.
I forget her name, but basically she's a super peppy woman in her late 30s sporting a fanny pack and highlighted hair. She bounded up in the middle of dinner, sat down and said, "I've been wanting to meet you all day! How are you?" (breakfast and lunch are "silent meals" for the sisters, so you can't talk until dinner... they totally cheat and whisper, though)
We chatted a bit, and when I told her I was a writer she said, "OOOHHH! You need to meet this woman I met the other day in Hollywood. She's wonderful and putting together a group of Christian writers to try and make movies and TV better. You know they just put out the most horrible stuff these days."
Yep, I'm writing and marketing it.
Fortunately it didn't last long, and I was able to fake my way through it by throwing in a bunch of "isn't it just a miracles" and "that's a real blessing, isn't its". I'm such a fraud. She asked me to pray for her tonight, but I don't think that's gonna happen.
After dinner, I went for a walk down the hill and came upon an Irish nun in full habit and a Mexican novice. I was about to turn around, but they told me the road circled the monastery, so I just followed them, listening to my devil music on my iPod.
Let me tell you, those nuns can walk. That 60-something sister was booking down that road, and everyone she encountered stopped and waved. (Even if you're not religious, you don't want to take any chances... I get it)
I stayed about 10 feet behind them the whole way until we hit the hill to the monastery and they slowed down. I tried to walk along the long bit of the road to slow myself down, but it was no use - I totally caught up to them.
The iPod etiquette guide my friend Jon sent me doesn't have a listing for nuns, but I thought it safest to take off the headphones and chat with them. So what was the first thing this holy woman from Ireland said to me?
"You know, we passed Mel Gibson's house down there."
Comments:
My grandfather's funeral was a bit weird like that. There I am, sitting front row at the service, and I'm not saying any of the prayers. I sat and kneeled when I was supposed to, but then there was the whole communion thing. I was the first person up and the priest forgot that if you put your hands to your lips that it means you just want a blessing, not the wafer... Awkward.
People in the family figured out that it wasn't that I'm not Catholic, but that I'm not a Christian. But we still had really nice conversations. I think they were all just happy to see the family, regardless of religion, it was about seeing people they cared about. I am probably a bit bigotted, because I half-expected them to freak out about stuff like that, but they didn't. I guess I shouldn't assume everyone that believes in Jesus is a zealot eh?
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People in the family figured out that it wasn't that I'm not Catholic, but that I'm not a Christian. But we still had really nice conversations. I think they were all just happy to see the family, regardless of religion, it was about seeing people they cared about. I am probably a bit bigotted, because I half-expected them to freak out about stuff like that, but they didn't. I guess I shouldn't assume everyone that believes in Jesus is a zealot eh?
# posted by 
: July 20, 2006 at 9:52 AM
: July 20, 2006 at 9:52 AM