Keeping Occupied
I usually don't have much to do on your average, ordinary evening in Coos Bay. There's always the informative duty of staying up until late to catch KCBY news at 11, basically to see what I missed during the day and to catch any stories that might be relevant into the following day. Or there's watching a few episodes of The Muppet Show (via Netflix), which isn't as bad as you'd think. But generally speaking, I'm pretty bored. The evening amounts to waiting to go to bed and my nightly games of Yahtzee or my much-too-late (yet incredibly wonderful!) phone conversations.
Therefore, I decided last week to start heading to Bible studies, weeknight worship stuff, and cell groups. The idea would be that I would meet people who are my own age and begin making a few friends. Now, I know that doesn't happen immediately, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
The upside of this newfound project (or whatever you want to call it) is the incredible gift of food. Last week, it was steak and freshly baked bread. Tonight, it was cinnamon-chip oatmeal cookies and coffee. By the way, don't ever try coffee that's flavored "snickerdoodle." It's awful. Seriously.
Now, for the downside: everyone here is old, married, or old and married. I tell people I'm 22, and they immediately say, "Wow... that was a while ago." I'll say I'm from Eugene, they'll say, "Oh, the big city... so, do you have a family?" And by that, of course, they mean a family of mine own, aka, am I married! Then they'll ask what I do, which typically means a conversation in which they're asking me questions and I'm not actually getting to know them!
Tonight was kind of different... but again, another feeling of being slightly out of place. This morning, I met a 24-year-old "mother of two" at the coffee shop I like to go to. She told me to come to a Bible study that had "people her age" at it. I went, and lo and behold... there was a married couple, a 40-something year old, and a married girl whose husband wasn't there. Needless to say, I felt (AGAIN!) out of place. Not because they weren't loving or inclusive, but because I'm young, single, and in a different walk of life than they all are. They "remember what it was like being 22," but they aren't even close to my age anymore.
So, the moral of the story is, don't look for a moral. Just roll with it and keep to yourself. Talk to your co-workers on your cell phone as much as possible, and go to bed when they're going to bed. Make sure your dinner takes two hours to eat, and voila! Your entire day will be taken care of!
Nah. I'm encouraged by the fact that there are some loving people in this community. I guess I'm kind of hoping there just happen to be some loving YOUNG people who I can identify with, and through that, grow a bit in both my relationship with God and as any person would grow from having different friendships to play off of.
Therefore, I decided last week to start heading to Bible studies, weeknight worship stuff, and cell groups. The idea would be that I would meet people who are my own age and begin making a few friends. Now, I know that doesn't happen immediately, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
The upside of this newfound project (or whatever you want to call it) is the incredible gift of food. Last week, it was steak and freshly baked bread. Tonight, it was cinnamon-chip oatmeal cookies and coffee. By the way, don't ever try coffee that's flavored "snickerdoodle." It's awful. Seriously.
Now, for the downside: everyone here is old, married, or old and married. I tell people I'm 22, and they immediately say, "Wow... that was a while ago." I'll say I'm from Eugene, they'll say, "Oh, the big city... so, do you have a family?" And by that, of course, they mean a family of mine own, aka, am I married! Then they'll ask what I do, which typically means a conversation in which they're asking me questions and I'm not actually getting to know them!
Tonight was kind of different... but again, another feeling of being slightly out of place. This morning, I met a 24-year-old "mother of two" at the coffee shop I like to go to. She told me to come to a Bible study that had "people her age" at it. I went, and lo and behold... there was a married couple, a 40-something year old, and a married girl whose husband wasn't there. Needless to say, I felt (AGAIN!) out of place. Not because they weren't loving or inclusive, but because I'm young, single, and in a different walk of life than they all are. They "remember what it was like being 22," but they aren't even close to my age anymore.
So, the moral of the story is, don't look for a moral. Just roll with it and keep to yourself. Talk to your co-workers on your cell phone as much as possible, and go to bed when they're going to bed. Make sure your dinner takes two hours to eat, and voila! Your entire day will be taken care of!
Nah. I'm encouraged by the fact that there are some loving people in this community. I guess I'm kind of hoping there just happen to be some loving YOUNG people who I can identify with, and through that, grow a bit in both my relationship with God and as any person would grow from having different friendships to play off of.