ALL IN CONVERSATION

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There are some things that you probably shouldn't say to your boss. He is in the process of moving from Edmonton to Calgary and is expecting most of his possessions to arrive this week, including his prized Martin guitar. Another colleague of mine also plays guitar and so the two of them were engaged in an enthusiastic conversation about musicality and influences. Me, not wanting to feel left out, waited for the right moment to pipe in, anxious to showcase what little knowledge I have left over from the music store days. Unfortunately, I learned a lesson in timing and delivery. Me: "So, manager, have you ever tried a Taylor before?" Timing and delivery is not only WHEN you say something (the 2 second pause that I waited probably didn't help), but context is also important. Because my manager has never heard of the Taylor brand of guitars before, AND because my manager prefers wearing tattered golf shirts to work, this is what he heard: "…have you ever tried a tailor before?" And so, a very awkward moment of silence ensued, for what seemed like an eternity, as he looked down at his fashion choices. Until my colleague, who is familiar with the brand, rescued me: "Oh, you mean Taylor guitars. Yeah, they're awesome!" Thankfully, my manager is a pretty easy going guy and we all had a big chuckle over it.

I found that by the time 4:00 p.m. rolled around, I was pretty exhausted, after spending most of the day pouring through spreadsheets. At that point, I was having an intense debate with myself about whether or not to go to the Seed that night. I just wanted to lay my head down and close my eyes. I toughed it out until 6:30 p.m. when I headed over, thinking that maybe having something to eat might help my state of mind. But, when I got there, we had a meeting because they were rolling out a new program. So, no food. Well, I was assigned to the task of serving and thought this would be a good way of just getting through the night, as carrying food to our guests on trays is a pretty mindless task. Because of the new program, there weren't many guests, so it was soon clear that there were too many servers. Instead of just standing and waiting with a full tray of food, I handed the rest of my plates to a fellow server and decided to walk around. I sat down beside one of the guests, an elderly gentleman with a slightly crooked nose and about 2 days' worth of beard growth. He looked at me with hazy eyes as I asked him "How are you?". He replied "How are you?" I said "I'm fine". He said "I'm fine." Mmmmm. "How did you like tonight's dinner?" "How did you like tonight's dinner?" What?! But before I let my imagination of how a conversation with a man who repeated everything I said get the better of me, we actually started talking. We talked about the recent cold weather that has swept into Calgary and he asked me if I had enough blankets. Huh? I told him I had one and he was surprised. He said he had 3 and offered me one! I politely declined and told him that my blanket was actually a cover, and it was pretty thick. But thanks! I walked around a bit some more and talked to another guest. He was eating by himself, working on his third helping of delicious macaroni. I asked him how his week was and he said, with a very quiet voice, that it was lonely. He had just lost his wife and is reluctant in calling his family, because they always think he's calling from a bar, which leads to some fundamental right wing scorning. We had a pretty decent coversation. At the end of the night, despite staying for more than an hour than I told myself I would, I was thoroughly refreshed. Any hints of previous fatigue were gone and I was pretty pumped. It's amazing how good conversation really helps to lift the spirit. That's the cool thing about the Seed; often, one is tempted to go there with the thought of "How can I help you?" Yet, I've discovered it is usually the other way around. My private prayer each time I go is to meet Jesus there. And every time, He has shown up, each time in a different guest.