Anyone remember Fella?
For those just tuning in, I'll spare you the backlog of reading: "Fella" was called "New Fella" for awhile. He's older than me. a middle-school football and basketball coach. Took him three dates before he touched me. He never held my hand in all the movies we went to. each Saturday, August 07-February 08, we had dinner and went to a movie. We had one hot and heavy 10 minutes that got interrupted and went nowhere. He had a little problem stepping outside of himself. So, when I noticed I was doing all the calling, I stopped. We didn't talk again.
He had a little hangup about one detail about me. I'm a Mormon. This whole idea puzzled him, to the point of amusement. His own amusement, I might add. He asked me questions about it. Then, he'd laugh at some of my beliefs, and say things like, "How do you know the men aren't meeting together just to come up with new ways to suppress the women?"
Uhm....do I seem like a suppressed woman? I mean, if that's the case, they're failing. Miserably.
But he still poked fun at me. It was annoying.
Flash-forward, to present reality. Our church meeting time recently changed. We used to go from 1:00-4:00, but now we go 9:00-12:00.
Oh, and by the way, guess who is the new women's Sunday school teacher? Yep. Good ol' Blogget. I do it once a month. I like teaching, so it's an okay calling for me.
But I digress. Again. Anywho....
That means the other ward that uses our building overlaps with us a little. As we're leaving, their first-hour in the chapel (this is the meeting with everyone together, hearing "sermons" and all) is letting out.
So, I'm leaning against the wall, talking to my mother. I thought I looked pretty good that day. I'm wearing my new look-how-much-thinner-I-am Sunday dress. My hair is pulled into a braid, with curls escaping around the edges. The chapel doors open, and I look up....
....to see Fella coming out of the chapel.
I smile as he looks up and sees me. He does a double-take. His eyes scan me up and down. He smiles back, nodding a hello to me. There's a small Hispanic woman behind him, who looks older than him. She starts to look where he's nodding, but he quickly takes her elbow and guides her the other direction.
My smile turns to a chuckle. My mom is puzzled. "Remember the dinner-and-a-movie coach guy?" I ask her. "Who made fun of me being a Mormon?" She nods. I pointed to Fella's back. Mom gapes. She's subtle that way.
So, somehow, he landed himself among the Mormons. That makes me smile, for a lot of reasons.
I wonder how that crow tasted?
10 comments:
I can only think it was a woman who got him there! Given his attitude with you about your beliefs.
xx
That's what I'm thinking, too! I have an insatiable curiosity, though, and sure wish I knew the story!
Good for her and good for him for supporting her. Or could it be the other way around?
Maybe he always was a mormon, but was baiting you to find out how good of one you were...hmmm?
Do you think you will see him there again...maybe at the church picnic?
Meh. Stranger things...
Like how I'm learning to be a better person and not so damned judgemental.
A friend of mine that I play chamber music with asked me to be part of a string ensemble for a Christmas thing at her church. Didn't know what kind of church, didn't much care at the time, because I was just doing this for a friend.
Then election day comes and goes.
I realize from wandering around the church in the middle of the concerrt (don't worry, I wasn't supposed to be playing at the time, and I really needed to find a bathroom), that I was in the southwest Stake.
Being who I am (and you know very well what I'm talking about), things were a little awkward, given what had happened in California, but with having played a lot of chamber music with people I didn't know were Mormons up to that point -- particularly knowing that some of them actually know enough about me -- I got over it.
There's been a lot of blanket condemnation on both sides of that particular... unpleasantness, let's call it, and Christmas music (which I still hate) reminded me that I still need to deal with people as people, because as ironic as it may seem, these people were willing to deal with me in the same way.
BJ...you have ANY idea what this previous guy was saying? Went to find him and learn more...no access!
Ah...classic!
Angel -- No, he wasn't already a Mormon when I met him. I know what church he was going to then, and he was heavily involved in it. Don't know if I'll see him....only if the two wards do something together. In that situation, he'd see me with Ranger!
Jerry -- As with most churches, you have those who are most die-hard and those who aren't. The die-hard often have the edge of judgmentality. I ran into it a lot when I got divorced. But in all "groups", there are good people. I hope you found some in the chamber group, and I hope they realized they found a good person in you!
Ron -- Yes! I understand all he's saying! Jerry is actually someone I've known since 7th grade!
Sassy -- indeed!!
Thanks!
BJ
Ron - It's not that there's no access, it's that there's nothing to access. I blog on another service, and I haven't really gotten around to creating a profile in here; I principally just use gmail. Sorry about that!
Yes, Blogget and I have known each other for a loooooong time, through junior high, high school, and college. In fact, she's one of the few people I've known this long who I am still interacting with at our advanced age.
Advanced age....I don't know if I like the sound of that, Jerry! LOL! I counted it up the other day and we've known each other for going on [gulp!] 29 years!
Okay...so maybe the years ARE advancing....
;o) BJ
If it's any comfort, I met both Stoune and Luce in 1976...
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