One of my favorite women to visit while doing CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) in the summer after my second year of seminary was named Edna. It was my first week there and her daughter-in-law died. I’d never met Edna but she wanted to speak to a chaplain. *deep breath* Okay. I met with Edna that day and just loved her to pieces. She walked with a walker, had a full head of white curly hair, and wore her glasses slightly askew. On days when I wasn’t quite sure what to do, I’d knock on Edna’s door to chat.
There was one morning when I was just striking out as I knocked on doors to visit people. People weren’t home and I was at a loss for how to spend my time. I happened to be on Edna’s floor so I knocked on her door. She opened the door, saw it was me, and exclaimed, “Thank God you are here!” She had just received disturbing news about her son’s health and was happy to have someone to talk with about it. [I could go on and on about cute Edna stories, including the one where she pointed to her coffee mug, on which was a black and white photo of her deceased husband, and said, “I have coffee with my husband every morning.” Oh for sweet.]
This is kinda how I felt on Thursday night. You can read the post beneath this one to see the kind of night I may have been having. I know there were at least a dozen people – probably more – that I could have called that night to talk with or asked to hang out with … but I didn’t. I don’t like to be needy, or vulnerable to the point where I seem needy. [curse of the enneagram number two] I called no one and sat on the couch attempting to do homework alone.
The buzzer to let people into the building went off in my apartment right around 10pm. I was expecting no one and just earlier that day, we had received an email from the building lady warning us of possible scheming being done by two strange guys in the neighboring apt. building. I wasn’t going to let anyone in! But then it buzzed again. What the heck, I wondered. Then this text message exchange happened –
After the “Are you buzzing me!?” text I sent, the buzzer went off about five times, alerting me that yes, this particular sweet couple was buzzing me. They were cookie fairies, bringing delicious cookies. I kinda felt like Edna, wanting to open the door and say, “Thank God you’re here.” Not just because of the cookies but just because it was good to sit and chat for a short while. Lauren and jD had perfect timing AND they brought chocolate. best. cookie. fairies. ever.
there's no place like gnome. 
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