HELLO!

Late last night I heard from a former parishioner, she wanted to tell me she remembered a conversation we shared over a decade ago. I will not use names, but I did ask her if it would be OK to share the arc of this dialogue in my blog (she reads them occasionally). “By all means, it might help someone to see in a new way.” This woman called me around 5 pm as I was leaving my office, headed for the bus to take me to Tantallon. Her nephew was not feeling safe, his mental health was fragile, he did not want to be alone. She picked him up, took him to the Emergency Department. They had been there for five hours, she needed a break, and thought I was the one person her nephew would find supportive in this moment. “You are the only person I know who is aware of mental illness and loves sports, a perfect combo for my nephew.” I came right away.

We sat in the waiting room with lots of others waiting to be called by name. On the television screens above I saw a program that looked familiar, it was “The Big Bang Theory”. The aunt looked up and then turned to me, “you have always reminded me of Sheldon.” I confess I have never watched the show, I find it a little on the predictable side, in the segments I watched I knew exactly where the dialogue was going. No surprises. I countered, “I grant you I am eccentric, perhaps like Sheldon, but I think I am more self-aware. It’s not so much that I say things that are awkward because I am failing to read social cues, it’s that I find conventional thinking a little dull at times and decide to add some flavour as necessary.” The aunt looked at me, “you think conventional thinking is a little dull?” She looked a little hurt. “I just want to be clear, it is OK for the majority, to look at eccentrics like me, laugh at us because we don’t get it like you do but if we mock you for being too conventional, that is hurtful?” She told me she had not considered this before. She changed the subject, I assumed all was forgotten.

Apparently not. Recently this aunt has been dating. She met a man whom she describes as “eccentric”, “like you” she added. She noted that while people tease him about his “oddness” she notices others are less comfortable when he teases them about their conventional thought. He also is not a fan of hugs, sentimentalism, prefers to kiss dogs to humans. I told her, “He sounds like my kind of people.” She remembers fondly how I came running when she needed me. Despite my eccentricity, she thinks I am OK. Imagine all the people we laugh at, assume they are “other” and how they might one day, be our friends. Peace and handshakes, Kevin

PS My child Lucian gave me a book of Christopher Pratt’s artwork for Christmas. They know Pratt is my favorite painter. My child is an artist and cannot imagine why I would love a print featuring a screen door overlooking the water. “But then, your tastes are always unique to you.”