I'm so pleased with the decision to participate in the memory-of-me blog. I laughed ridiculously hard several times and would love to relive most of those with most of you. Memories are good things to have. Thanks for having them. But now to the actual point of this blog:
I work at Sonic. The people with whom I work are...well, they're a challenge. I've heard some incredible stories about some really sad lives. It's cyclical and they don't see it. I've been at a loss as to what to say or how to help. There is one woman, though, with whom I really enjoy working. I asked her to be my friend and she said yes. I have been wanting to hang out with her outside of Sonic, hopefully get into some real-life conversation, but it just hadn't worked out yet. (She has a kid and is going through a divorce.)
But yesterday, she asked what time I was getting off because she was going to something-or-other in Watts (town nearby) and would I like to go. I was praying that I would get off time...I sent a text-message to my roommate telling her to pray that I would get off in time. I got off in time. Then I called her and we decided on a place to meet. Jumped in the car with her and two of her friends and we headed to their old high school. As we sat, she and her friends pointed people out to each other exchanging the most recent gossip about them all. Who had who's baby, who hit who, who's mom got drunk and...you get the idea. The culture of it was so foreign to me. Nobody leaves. Anyway, the reason we were there was, get this: DONKEY BASKETBALL!!! Two teams of 5 play one another. Only real rule: you have to be on your donkey to pass or shoot. All the while the donkeys are bucking, kicking and sometimes they would do my favorite, start running then stop abruptly and put their head down causing the rider to fly off the front. Donkeys would refuse to budge regardless of how hard they were being pulled, but then when the person got on they would take off bucking the whole time. I thought someone was going to get seriously injured...but still couldn't stop laughing.
I wish I could put the hilarity of it in words. I wish you all could have been there.
Most of the time I was asking myself, and God, how I got there. Two years ago I was going to Paris and Edinburgh, London and Rome, and now I'm in Northwest Arkansas watching donkey basketball. What the heck?! I can't wait to see how God pulls all of this together and uses it for His glory.