The Strangest Day

Tuesdays are usually no big deal at work. Except today. This week, in general, has been super strange. Yesterday I started teaching Summer Religious Ed. I'm teaching 3rd graders, again, for 2 weeks - just like I did last summer. Then I have my July vacation! But I like my group of kids. They aren't really a shy group, which is nice. They are full of random questions, both about what they are learning and about me. They always think of something new. 

Today I had to drive to Iselin after lunch time to move some new technology to Edison. Thanks to particular donors, I had to drive to Iselin and help load a truck of computer equipment to bring back to where I work. Unfortunately, the donors are administration of the Catholic Grammar school which closed this year. So while I was waiting for the maintenance guys to help me move everything, I walked around the empty school.

The strangest thing happened to me when I was walking around the school. I think it's a gorgeous place - it's 3 floors and a basement floor. The hallways are tall and lengthy, and the doors are tall as well. I stood in the doorway, looking down the hallway and had this vision...this random image of what my future private practice would look like if I had one. Bright colors on the walls, paintings and patient artwork hung, water fountains in the hallways, tall doors to rooms. It was like a vision, like a premonition that one day I'll have my own business - my own place to call home.

I walked to the basement. In one huge room, a special Hindu/Jainism ceremony was going on. I met a guy there, who obviously knew I didn't belong to the ceremony. He explained the ceremony to me and told me to take a further look - which I did. I figured I'd be a little rebellious and adventurous, which I should probably get used to since I'm heading to Italy in 2 months. So I took my shoes off and left them in the hallway outside the room (which the ceremony requires of everyone) and went to the front, around the crowd of people, toward the altar to watch what was happening.

Indian men and women were sitting separately from the other gender. Men sat on one side of the room, women on the other. Some women and children sat on the ground, on very small folding chairs. The entire room was decorated in different colors, fabrics, textures, and jewels. It was beautiful. In front of the women on the floor sat small tables with little glass jars and small lit candles. In front of that table, there was another table that held golden bowls. I think something was in them because they were all covered with the same color napkin, softly placed over the top. 

The ceremony was about the transitioning of the family's eldest son from boyhood to manhood. It was extremely interesting. The man I met there gave me his card and told me to contact him. He owns some huge corporation so maybe something awesome will happen. After I got home from work, I hit the gym - where I awkwardly got hit on by the guy who works there LOL :)