Simple Math

Today was a bit of a throwback to old times.

I and my best friend, Kori, went to go visit some old teachers at our middle school.

It was honestly a near fail because I apparently had had the privilidge of having all the old teachers, so when I went to go visit today they had all retired! So that was a huge bummer.

We ended up walking the halls and reminiscing. We ended up running into two of the janitors which we both had remembered.

Now, I had always kinda liked them for some reason. I had been kinda drawn to them (maybe that just makes me a creepy middle schooler?) but it's pretty much the way it works.

One of them is named James, and quite honestly when I was in sixth grade I was scared out of my pants of him. He was really really nice, no doubt about that, but he just always looked...off...you know? Picture the stereo-type of the crazy janitor but then make him the nicest guy ever and you have James. (I eventually warmed up to him, no worries there.)

But today was the first time that I had ever actually had a genuine conversation with him beyond the friendly "Hello" etc. We both learned that he actually used to attend my church Fairview Baptist church and that was where he was baptized etc. May I take a moment to just appreciate the connections that unqwittingly bond people together?

I also learned that he had been born blind and deaf and should have died at the age of 18 because of the condition he was born with. That to me was just amazing! Maybe not specifically because he survived all that, it certainly is a feat, but just that it actually happend!

And under other circumstances I may have never known about it.

Today I really began to appreciate other peoples life stories. Because every single one of us has one. They define who we are and who we want to be, and until we have at least a general understanding of another persons story, or at least the willingness to understand someones story, we'll never truly connect with them.

New life goal: Connect with a new person every day.