271/365 Why am I here?

Fr. Miguel did an open mic coffee and donuts today after mass. The theme was "why are you at this parish?" because, while we are geographical, not everyone is here because of geography. I wasn't going to get up and say anything, but Maeve and Sophia both wanted to, so I went with them. And this is just about what I said:

"We moved into, well, just north of the parish 12 years ago but my grandmother told me to come down here because Fr. Bill was the pastor and I should go here. So I called and Bill answered the phone and I told him where we lived. Turned out, we actually lived in St. Frank's parish, and I said, oh, ok, I'll give them a call. But wait, he said. Do you have kids? No, I answered, we've been married about 2 years. Well, do you plan to have kids? And I replied that yes, we were. And he said, well, then, why don't you give us a try. And we've been here ever since."

Afterward, Miguel walked up to me and told me he was glad Bill had pushed for us to join our parish. Colleen O'Toole was standing there next to me. "Oh, sure, because you would have fit in there so well," she rolled her eyes.

"I would have made it here eventually," I point out, since parishes merged 5 years ago and now we actually do live in the geographical boundaries. And then I thought again. "No, I wouldn't," I admitted. "I'd be a Quaker."

Geography, again, is destiny.