Friday, September 19, 2008

Prayer and Pasta

"Seven?"
It's the last word he says to me at close of day, typically around 10:30 in the evening, a question tossed over the shoulder as he walks away.
"Yup." My response confirms a recurring appointment. We meet at the church to pray weekday mornings from 7 to 8. I'm learning so much from this man. Learning tons.
Then there are some things I'm not even gonna try to keep up with.

It would take years to master photography the way he has. He's a brilliant film-maker. I'm happy enough to hang around said brilliance---probably not gonna rub off on me any time soon. Heck, according to some people, I can't even pick a good movie to watch, so I'm in no danger of making one, right?

I'm learning about flavors like Mexican Oregano. I'm even getting a little daring with Rosemary and Rubbed Sage, but I'll probably not master gourmet cooking the way he does it. This dude made a curry sauce for lunch yesterday that turned Pasta into the food of the gods. That's fine. It's ok that I don't know how to do that.













Photo by
Kathy Khoo

He reads encyclopedias for fun. For fun, I'm saying! Don't believe me? Watch this.
I just called him while I'm typing this...
"hey, tell me a random fact"
"about what?"
"anything"
"ok, Polar bears are left handed"
I think he's just making it up, so I start laughing. "No really, all of them?"
"Yes, all of them."
"All of them?"
"Yes"
"All of them?" O, he's serious. He's dead serious.
"Yes...And they cover their noses when they hunt. It's the only part of them that's black. They cover it so they can sneak up on you"

He knows everything that happened on MSNBC today. I never watched political tv 'til I met this guy a few months ago. And by the way, Stephen Colbert is hilarious. How did I not know that?

He just released a documentary called "Kim" online yesterday. It's a powerful story about a crime that's overlooked far too often and affects way too many people I love. I'll probably never make something that important.

It's not likely I'll have the time or energy to learn Photography, Politics, Gourmet Cooking, Film-making, or Random Party Facts from him, so what do I mean when I say I'm learning so much?

I watch him talk to God in the morning. He doesn't say much. He means every word. Then he listens. That's it right there. I'm learning to listen.



A single phrase to describe my friend Leslie Foster: Encyclopedia Renaissance

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