I haven’t kept y’all up with our trip. That’s because… uh, well we were busy having fun in Kentucky. And then, on the road back, Internet access wasn’t so great. But finally I am here with some more stories about our 1/3 cross country trip.
On Wednesday we took a ride out to a bookstore because Frank wanted to pick up a book about programming for the iPhone. As we’re getting out of the car, a man is getting out of his and walking just ahead of us into the bookstore. He’s dressed in a brown robe. He holds the door for us and Frank asks him what order he belongs to. We chat for a few minutes, mentioning that our son is in the seminary.
It turns out he is visiting his family who live in the exact same town that our friends live in, exactly where we are visiting. We go our separate ways.
That’s when Lou starts saying, “I can’t believe it! I’m with Monkling and I see a monk!”
I tried explaining to her that he’s not a monk, that he is either a priest or a brother and a Franciscan Missionary of the Eternal Word and his brown robe is Franciscan. She wouldn’t hear any of it.
“No. He is wearing a brown monk’s robe. He is a monk!” She got the biggest kick out of it.
It was a pretty big coincidence, though, that he was there visiting his family at the exact same time I was there visiting my friend and that we ran into him in a store. And that town in Kentucky isn’t all that huge so there’s a pretty good chance Lou knows his family.