Day 190 (Life Story)

In a strange twist of fate, I ended up basically telling my entire life story tonight. The first part I told to Alyssa, Mike's granddaughter. The last part I told to one of the prospective students that was still on campus.

It all started when I woke up this morning, dead tired from studying the night before. Made it though Exegesis, made it through Theology, got through the Prophets quiz and the rest of Prophets class with my eyes open, but it was a challenge. In the van on the way home, I mentioned to Mike that I could really use a glass of wine, so he invited me over to let me borrow his book for Intro to Ministry, and of course, a much needed glass of wine. His wife, Kathleen, and granddaughter Alyssa arrived shortly after and they invited me to stay for dinner. We had delicious hamburgers with gorgonzola cheese.

Alyssa, 5th grade, had an assignment to complete a 500 word rough draft for a story about an immigrant. I agreed to tell what I knew of my mother's story as an immigrant to help Alyssa with her assignment. If you are going to tell a story about your parents, you naturally end up telling a story about yourself, so everyone there got to hear about a significant portion of my childhood up to about high school.

Afterwards, I went to Holy Grounds to do some homework. Christina walked in eventually with one of the prospective students following her like a baby duckling (this is my favorite nickname for the prospective students), and before you know it, we start swapping call stories. I had avoided the Saturday night dinner for just this reason, but telling my call story to just one person is not the same as telling it to a room full of strangers. Besides, my dad had been home from the hospital for about a day and a half by this point, so my mind was much more at ease. My call story starts when I was in kindergarten. I know this is not typical, but it's true. Although a lot of the time frame overlapped with the story I told Alyssa, I don't think any story points did. So that portion of life-sharing brought us up to the present day.

One story, two different audiences, two different purposes. Adding to "To Do" list: Write The Book of Chuck.