Today for Jeff’s birthday we went down to Bertie Lou’s for breakfast.  Well first we walked to Ada’s, but it’s been closed so we wandered down 17th to Bertie Lou’s.  As we were hanging out waiting for a table the smartest little thing walked up to Paige to show off her new dolly.  All of two years old the little miss wanted to talk to the big girl about Georgia who she had just gotten for her birthday the week before.  Paige was great and handled the situation with poise.  We were then seated right next to the family at an outdoor table.  As Paige walked to our table the mom of little miss commented on her outstanding socks.  P, all dressed in purple (shoes, t, and shorts) was wearing black and red sparkly rudolph socks.  I mentioned that Paige certainly had her own fabulous sense of style, pointing out her neon orange earrings and the mom told me she could tell and that she was a professional stylist who did catalogues.  Well then we really got to chatting.  It turns out it was her birthday too, although she is not nearly as ancient as Jeff.  They had tried to go to Ada’s as well, and lived in the neighborhood.  By the end of breakfast we’d been invited to their house for a birthday party that night, the little one was sitting at our table finishing her breakfast and playing with her playmobil people with Paige, and the grandpa of the family was confessing to me that despite the cast he was planning to get back on his dirt bike soon while grandma rolled her eyes.  After they paid and left I looked at Jeff and we both smiled.  This was exactly why we came to Sellwood.  It felt like God had just given us a great big thumbs up.
I realized this afternoon I would never in a million years have accepted an invitation to a birthday party of someone I had just met like that if I wasn’t being intentional about connecting with new people.  I would have been too awkward about it.  I’d be nervous about making a good impression.  These days I have the courage to get out there because I know it’s the key to turning my life from a lonely landscape into a place of rich community.   It happened in Veneta and I was deeply blessed by the people I got to love there.  I trust that it will happen here, too.
 Now we don’t know what will happen with this family.  Maybe this will be the last time we see them.  Maybe we’ll become fast friends.  Maybe they will become involved in the new start.  Right now what matters is the connection, the possibility, the moment when strangers at the next table become fellow travelers on the road.  We had a great breakfast because of them.  Tons of laughter and fun.  It was nice to see parallel points in our lives and to learn from them about what they do and who they are just a little.  It was lovely to see Paige play so well with a wee one and to enjoy the observations of a two year old at breakfast.  Our time was blessed because of the interaction.  I know that our life and our ministry will continue to be blessed by more such moments as we open ourselves to others and risk being ourselves.  Even going so far as to wear Christmas socks in July.
Eilidh