Celebrated the birth of a very important person today (*cough cough* my sister). She was completely fine w/ being out of the spotlight as usual (not even in the background of this picture, so I thought this was an appropriate pic[k]). There was nothing uniquely or obviously ‘spectacular’ about the day, and yet it was wonderful in that I could see the vessel of blessing she’s been and still is to those around her, even in the most mundane ways.
I got to share some coffee and pastries w/ her and her friend MCB in the morning and just listen in on the awesome stuff God’s been doing in each of their lives; it was clearly a mutually uplifting time. After grabbing some tasty things to-go from a couple nearby places at MCB’s request (for us to all share!), we began walking to the parking structure, but as my hands started patting my bag and my various pockets, I realized my keys were nowhere on my person. We walked back in the almost 100-degree weather to the coffee shop where stories were earlier swapped to search for the missing keys. Coming up empty, we headed back to the parking structure and thankfully saw that my keys were sitting innocently on the driver’s seat of my locked car. Not a problem though since I’m a AAA member, and reuniting w/ my keys was just a phone call away, so I expected my sister to drive MCB back to their other friend’s house to chill, esp since I recalled my sister had told MCB that she’d bring her back by a certain time. But nope, they both stayed w/ me [in the very safe, brightly lit and warm parking structure] the whole time till ‘Papa’ finally came and popped open the door.
Fast forward to when the rest of the family joined me and my sister at her apt, after she’d been in pain and discomfort for a couple hours due to the miracle that is the functioning human body, and still my sister mustered the energy and patience to fill us in on what had been going on w/ her most recently, much to my mom’s delight. We played some rounds of Mahjong before walking to Whole Foods for a low-key but tasty dinner outside. We were all about to head off in our separate vehicles (my sister was gonna go receive some birthday prayers!) when my brother noticed his motorcycle was dead, the one he needed to ride back to his place. And who decided to be the one to stay through another AAA call and make sure my brother was sent on his way safely? My in-pain, tired, delaying-birthday-prayer-redemption birthday girl sister.
My sister often marvels at the density of amazing people around her and how fortunate she is that they’ve all decided to allow her into their lives and bless her w/ their awesomeness. After having heard countless stories about several of them and meeting some of them in person, I can attest the truth of that observation. BUT my experience has shown me there is also a ring of goodness and love that follow her a la Psalm 23 wherever she goes, and it’s no secret to the ppl who find themselves within that space, that it’s a place where ppl are invited to gather round at the Lord’s table.
