Baby Jesus

Hanging out with my niece the other day, I discovered that she names all her dolls, "Baby Jesus." This is incredibly, ironic considering the first time I met her mother, she told me she was an atheist. Regardless, it reminds me of a story that I have told before but never written about.

In my early twenties, I lived in Boston for a year. During this time I was pretty impressionable, and miserable to boot. One evening, I was so unhappy about who knows what, that I said out loud, "if there is a God show me a sign."

The next morning, on my way to my waitress job downtown, I had an encounter with a homeless man. I was headed out of the T station, when I noticed an elderly, Native American man walking towards me. His back was bent over so severely, that he needed a cane to walk. Right as he was about to pass me, he said, "Hi Suzy." I was in disbelief, I kept walking but then turned around to see that the man had stopped in his tracks and was smiling at me. I walked further, and turned to look at him again and he was waving. Right as I was about to turn the corner of the building and he would no longer be in my sight, I looked one last time, and he was blowing me a kiss.

Right then and there, I remembered the night before when I had asked God for a sign. I felt an electric current pulse from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I wanted to fall over and get on my knees immediately. However, there was work to be done, and I was late.

When I walked into work, the other servers were setting up their stations. Most of my fellow employees were older and wiser, and obviously just waiting tables temporarily until their book was finished or their record deal came through. It was definitely an eccentric group, one that I found to be enlightened. Don't ask me why, I can't remember. So, while rolling napkins for the downtown business crowd, I told a select few of my holy encounter. Everyone seemed slightly indifferent to my story. I wanted people to get on their hands and knees, God had spoken to me. But, my fellow waiters and waitresses were not sharing my enthusiasm.

After work, I was desperate to get home and call my amazingly, spiritual mother and share the unbelievable news with her. She also was hesitant, but nice nonetheless.

It was husband, (my boyfriend at the time) that really put a pin in my balloon. I told him the story in it's entirety, even my fear as to why God came to me, in such a twisted physical form. He listened quietly and when he was sure that I was done, he asked, "How do you know, he didn't say, 'Hi Sweetie'?".