Two weeks ago, I was serving in the final booth of initiatory and one of the assistant supervisors was acting as patron so she could hear us and offer suggestions as we trained. This was the same person who had "picked my pocket" at the veil a few weeks prior.
She came into my booth and I provided my part of the ordinance, handing her the name card as I finished. And then came the unexpected.
"You are so beautiful," she said.
I didn't know quite how to respond - memorizing and practicing my part of the ordinance was what I was thinking about, not how I was looking at that moment. So I simply said that that was nice of her to say and thanked her, holding the curtain open so she could move on.
"That was odd," I thought, and then I smiled, remembering what had happened at the veil and shrugging it off. Soon she came around to my booth again.
"You are so beautiful," she said again when I had finished. "Inside and out, I just think you are beautiful."
I wasn't caught off guard by her remarks his time, so I again smiled, thanked her, and ushered her out, trying to not let what she'd said be a distraction to what I was trying to learn and do.
Later that evening, our paths crossed again. I was leaving the dressing room and she was entering. She grabbed my hands and said, "You know, I am sure that if I were younger, we'd be best friends. You have such a spark in you. How old are you?"
By now I had realized that this sister is a bit of a loose cannon - you never knew what she was going to say or do! But I recognized, too, that she didn't mean any harm, awkward though her words and actions might be.
"I'm fifty-eight," I replied, and then emboldened by her brazenness, asked the same question of her. She replied that she was seventy-five (which surprised me; I would have guessed late sixties.)
"See, we're too old to be friends, but I bet if we were closer in age, we'd just be best friends," she stated."You have such a spark in you, just like me."
Sensing that that desire for friendship was the reason behind her unusual remarks, I grabbed both her hands firmly in mind and replied, "Age is not a barrier. We can be friends despite the difference in our ages," and I gave her a hug.
It was returned with a smile and more comments about age and friendship (and sparks... What sparks??) , and I left the dressing room smiling.
As I walked to my next assignment of the evening, I decided that I would take any future comments (or pick pocketing!) with the perspective that this was someone who simply wanted my friendship, unusual as those overtures might be, and respond in kind.
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