Acquaintance

I might have to write two entries today. I am afraid that no one will read my blog ever again if I don't update it more often and I have to send my new laptop in (again!) to be fixed so I might be offline for a while.

I had an odd social experience yesterday that happens on occasion. I live in the same city I grew up in, was educated in (until college), went to church in etc etc. I don't live in the same part of the city but for the past three years I have worked in that same suburban area. Occasionally I see someone that I knew from school or church from the past. We usually chat a bit, which is nice. I enjoy getting to see assorted acquaintances from my past. I used to work for Chin's Asia Fresh (http://www.chins.com) and now work for Qdoba Mexican Grill (http://www.qdoba.com) so when I see customers from Chin's in my Qdoba I often get to chat with them now too. "Oh, you're over here now, good change?" That's kind of nice too.

There is a part of my past however that I haven't quite figured out what to do with. There are many people who know me almost entirely through the church, as an upstanding moral Christian who's been on a lot of mission trips. I'm not ashamed or regretful about any of my life but I'm really different now. Of course my friends and close family members know the changes that I have gone through in the last few years in my worldview and outlook on life, but how do I react to someone who walks up to me in Qdoba and introduces me as though I'm some missionary on furlough to a real missionary on furlough?

"Hey Laura, this is my friend John, he's a missionary in Pakistan. Laura has spent a lot of time in China, she's so and so's friend or daughter." I smile and It's not as though I owe this random acquaintance an explanation, but I sometimes feel like I should stop the conversation and just catch them up on the inner workings of my mind. It makes me wonder what people who come out as gay or convert to a different religion or change careers midlife do with all their acquaintances from their "before" life. It makes me wonder how I classify people. If I treat them as a part of a certain group or as an individual with many facets and a complex personality. I wonder...