Yesterday I pulled up to the City and parked next to a small white paneled truck. Sounds sketchy? I wondered what was up, but then this delightful older man popped out and started chatting about flowers. My secret passion is gardening, but I don't have enough time or energy to pursue it. Every spring I enthusiastically spend WAY too much money on plants. I also happily spend each spring rearranging flower beds (aka moving plants that clearly do not want to be moved).
Forgive me, rabbit trails are also my secret passion. The gentleman is a wholesaler and lives not far from me. Every spring he drops off his "extra" plants and donates them to the families we serve. Yesterday he gave us zinnias (love them), vincas (awesome for sunny, hot beds and pots), tomatoes (he had heirlooms and fun varieties), sweet peppers, and sunflowers. My heart was so happy just looking at all of the plants. It was fun to see all of the ladies getting distracted from their journey to our front door. They were so cute browsing and then running with full arms and hands to stow their goodies in vehicles.
Our desks rotate at the office and no one was stationed at the front desk so I took possession, but only after I had sufficiently wasted time organizing plants and chatting with ladies. Would you believe that the family featured in the article (see yesterday's blog post) walked in the front door before lunch time? I confess that I had to look twice into the baby stroller because there was a sewing machine nestled in the depths, instead of a baby.
My new friend had an old Bernina machine that was not grabbing the fabric because the feed dogs were not raising high enough. Her needle was not centered and was hitting the metal on every pass through the fabric. I was clearly out of my depths so I did what every smart American does. I bypassed YouTube and found someone nearby to assist me.
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Quilt 4 U is a fun shop and, let me tell you, it is a hopping store. In the back front corner of the store, Daniel has his repair shop. I waited patiently while an adorable grandmother chatted with him about her projects and then presented a cute apron adorned plastic bag storage holder thingee. Daniel did not bat an eyelash but accepted it graciously. It was truly a clever little piece of craftsmanship and my approval rating for the store shot up after watching the interaction.
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Daniel took the time to look at my friend's machine and then proceeded to coach me on how to oil and clean it. I am not sure how long he spent on that machine and coaching me, but it was worth it to see the look of joy on my friend's face. It was also one lunch break well spent! I wanted to give Daniel a shout out because he freely gave his time to assist me as I assisted my friend.
She does not live far from work so I stopped by their house to drop off the machine. The house was lively and full of families! I knocked on the open door and then had a gaggle of people following me to the back of my car to unload the machine. Someone ran to get my friend and her eyes lit up when she saw the machine was back and on her coffee table. We set it up and I pointed out a few things that she might not have realized about it. Her husband was getting ready to walk out the door but he stopped to provide some translation assistance.
I was invited multiple times for tea and it is truly delicious but I am truly allergic to dairy. I thanked them and prayed that I was not offending them. I just was not sure how to tell them about allergies. She did ask for my phone number so I may get more requests for help with the machine in the future. I was excited to make a new friend. Somewhere in the Columbia area there is a woman who has no idea about how happy she made one Afghan woman with this donated Bernina sewing machine!
I had to laugh when I got into my car. The family has a car now and it was fun to see the kids negotiate about going to drop off my friend's husband at his job. I am guessing by the occupancy level of the car that it was the highlight of their day now that school is out of the summer. I hope that they will have a chance to get involved with the City of Refuge youth program this summer.
And of some have compassion, making a difference: Jude 1:22 KJV
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All opinions expressed here are solely mine and are not a reflection of the opinions of the AmeriCorps VISTA program
or of City of Refuge in Columbia, MO.
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