You see, the church I grew up attending in Greenfield doesn't have attendance cards. They have a Mabel. It was a bit of a shock to me to find out that every church doesn't come with a Mabel: Someone who sits near the back and checks off the list of who is present. She also meets all the visitors, partly out of necessity to keep her list updated. And if the visitors are people who have returned after a long absence, Mabel already knows who they are (and was probably standing by the door to greet them when they came in). You know all those people (most of the U.S. by now, I should think) who "aren't good with names"? Mabel could teach a class on how to be good with names.
This is not Mabel; it's my grandmother. But the two of them are good friends, and Mabel is as close as anyone can be to being my grandmother without actually sharing any of her DNA with me. And I don't have any digital pics of Mabel, so I decided this picture was close enough.
Anyway, we are now at a church that expects that we will fill out an attendance card and turn it in every week. Weird-- but we're doing it anyway, because we like to get along with people from time to time.
And I guess it's nice to be counted.
5 comments:
I din't grow up in Greenfield, well I guess I did years two-four of my life. And I love Mabel. and Jack, and Rachel, and Shantelle, and Ashley, and Grandma, and Uncle Bill, and Aunt Annette, and Billy, and Denise, and...............Funny enough when I think of church home, I think of the Greenfield family. When we went back a few years ago, Anny was in Rachel and Shantelle's class, and we got there before them and she was sitting down at the table. I was in the baby class next door with Chris and Ashley. All of a sudden we hear a shriek from next door, and it's Rachel YELLING "It's Anny!" I hadn't seen her for years and she recognized me in my daughter of the same name. (Anny was stupefied to know how Rachel knew her name.) That's how much like home that congregation is. Thanks, you now have me crying. Love & Miss you too!
It is cool that even though you didn't grow up there, you know everyone & they all know you.
I still have a kid's book (one of those itty bitty ones that I'm not even sure they still make) and that Mabel gave me for a very early birthday-- 1st or 2nd, I think. She really is like a third grandmother.
There are sooo many people from Greenfield that we love, but I think you named them all. :)
I did mean Alisha, I have always done that, poor girl... I forgot Audrey...I loved Rh and Audrey...She was the epitome of beauty to me, always so classy. (I also had the biggest crush on her son when I was little, but he was like 15 years older than me (I think his name was Andy.)
Andy it is. I always thought he was way older than me, too, but I think it's actually about 7-ish years? I was in primary school when he graduated, I think. Of course, that's still a lot of years at that age.
RH & Grandpa together were hysterical.
"RH & Grandpa together were hysterical." Ain't that the truth!
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