Classmate

One of my new classmates came in the other day and sat down right beside me. Sometimes I wonder at classroom dynamics and how we decide who we are going to sit with and who is going to be our friends.

This young lady is so hilarious. She is a beautiful African American girl. She told us she was emancipated at 16 after living with her grandmother who didn't like children, but it was the only place she had to go. For a time she lived in her car, then started sleeping in the church office at night. She is now married to a pastor, and a college student at 26. She is awesome.

There was something about her cadence of speech that struck a cord with me. I asked her where she lived as a kid. She grew up in the projects on MLK. I asked her if she ever ate at the Community Kitchen at North Rome United Methodist Church. She said, "Oh yes, we hit them all, the kitchens, the food pantries, everywhere they could get something to eat." I asked her if she remembered the lady who ran the kitchen...She replied that yes she did..."oh wait, was that you?" Well, yes it was. I founded Rome Urban Ministries Community Kitchen when Nicole was 2 years old. I did it because it was something I could do and take Nicole with me and because I needed a ministry and one thing I could do was cook for a crowd. I remembered this little girl because of her cadence of speech. She is doing wonderfully now after such a rocky start in life...

Many times I see former clients on the street, or at the store. Several are doing well now. You never know who or how you will impact someone in life. Maybe, just maybe years later you see something you did that bears fruit. Satin is not my client anymore, now she is my classmate...and my friend.

I used to say that when I died it would be wonderful for people to call me the "Lunch Lady." It still would not be a bad epitaph, but there is so much more to me. You could call me the eternal student. You could call me a wife and mother. I hope you remember I was just Living Life.