Today is the last day of summer. School starts tomorrow, rush hour traffic returns (an unpleasant thing for those of you who work), and Kayla and Lance have moved out and gone back to Lubbock. We're going to miss Kayla and Lance. Kayla was a little nostalgic about leaving, but Lance didn't seem quite too choked up. Don't get me wrong, I think he enjoyed his summer visit and he was appreciative of the free rent and free food, but after almost three months of living with the in-laws who wouldn't be ready to get away?
This past Thursday I returned to Second Mile after a two-week hiatus for Camp Bandina and Colorado. I spent a little time in the warehouse, but I worked the majority of the day in the food pantry, working under the direction of Penny, the food pantry supervisor. Apparently after spending several months laboring in obscurity with the community service kids someone thought I was ready to actually deal with the real people up front. I thought the warehouse was an honest day's work, but it's nothing compared to the pantry. From 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM this place is non-stop activity serving the clients who come for groceries. Penny had one community service kid, one very slow-moving volunteer, and me, and she had all of us stepping and fetching all day. My primary job was restocking the pantry shelves, which involved going back and forth between the pantry and the warehouse to find and retrieve whatever was running low. My secondary job was pushing each client's shopping cart of groceries out to their car and loading it into their trunk or back seat. One lady in particular really stood out. She was not the typical client. Please excuse my racial profiling, but she was not Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or Black. She was dressed nicely in clean clothes, she spoke perfect English, and she was driving an almost new Lincoln Navigator. I don't know her story, but things must be getting to the breaking point for someone like her to show up asking for free food. I spent a few seconds wondering how many other middle class white people will be in her shoes soon.
Back to Penny. This lady is absolutely on fire for the Lord. She's the kind of Christian who makes you feel embarrassed that you're so reserved about your faith. She told me that she was a former barmaid and bartender, and that she "was about as wild and crazy as they come." She grew up in the Church of Christ and had parents that loved her and cared about her and raised her to be a Christian, but she just wasn't buying what they were selling. At some point her lifestyle bottomed out and she realized that her only hope was in Jesus. Now she listens to KHCB at full volume, says "praise Jesus" at least ten times every hour, says "God bless you" to every client she meets, and tells the community service kids that they should give church a try. On top of all this, she has an endless supply of energy and works as hard as anyone I've ever seen. I'm really hoping to get put back in the warehouse next week where I can sweat in obscurity at my own pace.
As part of Kayla's "Week of Fun" we spent Friday checking off the last two things on her list. First, we went to breakfast at The Breakfast Klub, which is a dive (but a nice dive) near downtown on Travis. If you've ever driven downtown on a Saturday morning you may have noticed this place because it always has a line out the door and around the block. We decided that a Friday morning probably wouldn't be too crowded. There was a good crowd, but no waiting. Although ours were the whitest faces in the crowd, it was a fun experience. The staff was incredibly friendly, the food was good, and the portions were gargantuan. The only negative aspect of the morning was being surrounded by Obama pictures on all sides. Maybe that's why I couldn't finish all of my pancakes?
I spent most of the day yesterday putting the finishing touches on my chariot for the Joseph show (see prior post from about a month ago). I've designed a modified Superman logo as the primary decorative feature of the chariot. I'll post a picture of the finished product soon! Don't miss it!
Speaking of the Joseph show, I'm starting to get a little concerned. The show is now just a month away and we (the cast) are not even close to being ready. Our biggest obstacle has been getting everyone at rehearsals. I'm hoping that now that summer is over everyone will be back in town and ready to focus on the show. At least the chariot will be ready.
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