08.12.07

Your hairdresser called … your wine is ready to be picked up

Posted in church, friends, ministry, Team at 5:22 am

Marcus and I met at an outdoor coffee shop the other day. As we talked, we saw a friend of ours pull up on her scooter. She’s the lady that cuts all of us Americans’ hair. I knew that she was closing up her shop for a week to go visit family down south.

As she started to drive off, I jokingly asked her to make sure and bring me some wine from her parents’ region. She looked at me and said, “Are you serious?” I thought I may have offended her somehow and said, “Well … I’ve been down south and tried it before.” She paused and said, “Tomorrow, you come to my shop and I will bring you a bottle of wine I get from a farmer around here. It’s wonderful.” I thanked her and she drove off.

The next day, I got a call. It was our hairdresser. My wine was ready.

So I stopped by her shop, she gave me a bottle of homemade wine. No label. Just a glass bottle and a kind of makeshift cork that reminded me of a Mason jar (they’re fairly common here for bottling your own stuff). I thanked her for her kind gift, and went on my way.

As I walked to catch the bus back home, I sort of smiled as I thought about what a different life I have here in Ancona compared to America. It was raining. I was walking slowly down the slick sidewalk with an umbrella in one hand and a bottle of homemade wine (that the lady who cuts my hair gave me) in the other. The piazza where I was going to catch the bus is actually where a lot of the winos hang out, so I was sure I was going to fit right in. But at the same time, I was honored that she wanted to share something with me that is so important in Italian culture.

Despite the differences, I absolutely love it here.

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