Got Nick? and Daddy's Girl

Tonight, my sisters, my mom, and I all went to do our grocery shopping. We're into this new thing called "talk-to-strangers-and-maybe-you'll-get-a-chance-to-tell-them-about-Jesus." It's working quite well. So tonight we see this man, about fifty years old, with a shirt on that says "Got Nick?" Well, Christina decided it would be a great conversation starter to tell him that she liked his shirt. When he asked her if she knew what it meant, she was trapped. Did she know what it meant? No. But she was right, it was a great conversation starter. We chatted for a little while, but didn't push ourselves on him. Later, we saw him in another area of the store and traded quips such as "haven't I seen you before?" then laughed and walked away, deciding that the next time we saw him we would invite him to church. 

We went to check out, bummed that we had missed our opportunity to talk to the guy when, what do ya know, he pushed his cart up behind us and struck up conversation again. We talked about school supplies, the price of school lunch, and college. He commented on how we all look alike, asked which one was mom, and then asked which one was the daddy's girl. Automatically, the answer was Christina. She's the musician and the comedian... just like dad. This is the part where we got to tell him about our church. He asked about the music, we told him what we do (which is play music at church). He then asked where we were from, what church, etc. Bada bing bada boom: He knows who we are and where we are, maybe we will be seeing ol' Nick around Barren Plains sometime soon. I sure hope so.

Now for PART II of the story. I mentioned earlier that Christina is daddy's girl, but I think it really depends on how you define that kind of thing. Tina definitely has his talents and his jokes, but Rebekah and Jessica look like him (well more than Christina and I do) and I, well, I think I have his no-nonsense perspective. On the way home from town, Jessica was talking about some of her friends and stuff going on at school. She just started high school and is still in that transitioning/adjusting-to-a-new-school phase. Rebekah gave her some advice, telling her to give people second chances, tell them how she felt, all that good stuff. Christina said... something, and I told her this: "You don't need friends. If someone doesn't like you, get over it and make a new friend. There are too many people in your class for you to just have a couple of friends." Harsh? Maybe, but definitely true. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized that it was not me that had just spoken, it was my dad. I know once upon a time he told me the exact same thing. Even Bek piped in from the backseat that I had sounded like good ol' papa-la.

When we got home, mama made Jess tell dad about the situation. This is what he said. "Get over it, you don't need friends. You're gonna graduate and go to work and you won't have friends then. Move on." So yeah... me and Dad: same person.

I guess I should add a disclaimer here: I absolutely adore friendship. I have great friends. But they are not friends I made in high school. Some are, but most of my friends are people I have met at college and in church, people who I know God placed in my life. Jess has her whole high school career in front of her and I wouldn't want her to miss out on all the other friends she could make because she is concerned about just a few. Friends are great. Just sayin'