Breakfast 10.6.10

After MP this morning one of the guys that had noisily walked in during prayer came up to me while I was changing the Psalms on the hymnboard. I was rather defensive expecting to be panhandled for something or another. After I worked my way through my unjustified judgmental-ness I was humiliated to realize that G was in fact telling me that he didn't know how to cross himself properly during the prayers and that he wanted some instruction. After a few minutes he looked alike a pro. "You'll have to give me a quiz later," he said.

Breakfast was well attended - about eight of us, Gail working on the stove. I was especially happy to see one of our regulars who had a court date yesterday. He had told me that he might be in jail today, so his presence meant that all had gone well as expected. E told stories about his time in Europe learning to "winter camp" from the snowboarding students who wandered across Switzerland, a skill he then transferred to winter survival in Boston. T, a young woman who's been with us for some time, joined the conversation and, after some twists and turns, we realized that we both grew up in Minneapolis about 20 miles apart, and that she used to go "Fergus Falls Days" in my wife's hometown. One newcomer, B, was in town to work at the State Fair before going back to Greensboro. "But I know all these guys out here for a while."