another epiphany

Can't seem to focus on an appropriate update for the present moment so I will just mention one of my new resolutions: practice random acts of hospitality.

During my trip to the UK, I had to be in Belfast for a couple of days and as it turned out, my sister's pastor's wife's family lives in Belfast, so my sister made arrangements for me to stay with her pastor's wife's brother and his family. When I got to Belfast, however, I found out that my sister's pastor's wife's brother's wife was just starting work again after a year's maternity leave, so it was difficult for them to host me and told me that my sister's pastor's wife's father, who is also my sister's pastor's wife's brother's father, will be hosting me instead. I was a little apprehensive by that point and imagine how I felt when my sister's pastor's wife's brother drove me to my sister's pastor's wife's father's house and my sister's pastor's wife's father said, "There's too much construction going on at our house so we're heading over here."

Finally, I ended up staying at my sister's pastor's wife's father's tenants' apartment instead. David (my sister's pastor's wife's father) is an architect and he was building an additional floor to his old farmhouse and had remodeled the barn where he milked cows as a kid into a lovely little two-story place. The tenants, Ed and Kate and their little baby Elijah, had an empty guest room and they hosted me for the two nights I was there. None of the people who fed me and who drove me around the city had ever met my sister before and I have never met my sister's pastor or his wife! We were utter and complete strangers.

My three weeks of travel were wonderful in many, many ways, but this short part of my trip affected me profoundly. I spent many hours talking to these folks over meals and tea and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was truly an unexpected holiday.