To my seatmate, returning from Tim and Aileen's:

Hi, my name is Barbara, what is yours?

My name is Lemy.

Are you from Toronto?

Yes, I came here sixteen years ago from China. I came to study and never went back.

From mainland China?

Yes.

So you grew up under Communism? And atheism?

Yes.

Did you know anything as a child about the Chinese church or Christianity?

We studied other religions in school. I remember learning about...the man they talk about in the Christian book...What's his name? Let me think...Jesus...

What is it like for your family, living in a Christian society?

Many Chinese people start going to church. My mother-in-law goes every week.

Why is that?

I think they have never thought about things enough. They easily believe in religion. (He is a scientist)And it is a good way to meet people.

A man I admire said that Communism is, in ways, a Christian heresy. For instance, it theoretically treats man as valuable, valuable enough that he should be delivered from mistreatment. Why should he be valuable if he has not been given value from outside himself, from a creator? Why else could he be considered more important than an animal or any other living thing? His value is borrowed from Christianity... Also in Communism, there is deliverance from slavery through the shed blood of the bourgeoisie, the oppressors. In Christianity, we are delivered from spiritual oppression through the blood of Christ, through his death for us...

And we continue to talk...

How I love to see who sits next to me on a plane...

To be continued!

I will try to write more tomorrow about my time away, but for now just want to pass on something my cousin Jill sent...an "In Memorium" ...

With all the sadness and trauma in the world at this moment in time, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry Laprise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey", died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into his coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started...

Our President

Our intellectual giant in the White House says that the health care bill, if passed, will lower employers' contributions by....3000%! Then they can give their employees's raises! Do the math....I can't!...But I do know that premiums can't be lowered more than 100%...I have long heard that the prime weakness of liberals is that they know nothing about economics or business...Oh my!

I feel like I am going to write a big test. That same old feeling. Do I know everything? If not, do I really know anything? Man, I hate this situation.

All the way down to the courthouse, I rehearse what I am going to say to the judge. In the summer of 2007, we sold our home unexpectedly quickly..We didn't know what to do. Our real estate agent said she had a friend with a second home. In the home was an apartment he would be glad to rent to us...etc.etc...We gave him a check for $1000 as a damage deposit. It was put into his company's operating account, not their escrow account. The company has since closed and the check cashed and spent...We have asked Bert repeatedly to pay us back and he won't...According to statutes ---and ---he should have to take responsibility for our loss even though he was not directly responsible for the misappropriation...And according to statutes----and--- we should not have to pay him even for the slight damages to his property...

I go over and over my statement, my legal case. How much will this judge know about real estate law? Let me read the statutes again. Do I understand this one completely? Another call to the lawyer-friend who is prepping us....Help! What? For sure?

I am early, of course, so I sit in the car and eat my sandwich, rehearsing and rehearsing...Time to go in and track down the proper courtroom...Chat with this person and then with that person...Hey, what are they all doing here? You mean they all have one o'clock appointments, too? So this will be a "public", communal setting? Great! Now I am more nervous than ever.

There is Bert. He again tries to justify his behavior. I nod politely, but don't encourage the excuses. He looks older, stressed. Guess life has not been kind to real estate agents...

Time to go in. All rise . court is in session...Judge Zimmerman dismisses many cases which have been settled by mediation since they were filed...And we are the first ones actually called up to testify.

The judge, by typical procedure, will ask me to make my statement first, then Bert will get to respond. I have to be ready to rebut his justifications for not paying us...here we go...

But the judge just reads my initial deposition out loud. He turns to Bert and ask, Did you take her damage deposit for $1000?....Yes, Sir....Have you returned it? ....No, Sir...Then you have to give it back to her...Turning to me, Here is your judgment against him,...And Bert begins to speak, to share with the judge all the reasons he is not really responsible for the payment....Un-huh....Un-huh...All right. Here is your judgment. Case closed - within sixty seconds!

Now, that is my kind of judge! Quick justice, and I did not have to defend myself at all. He did it for me! How wonderful to see Bert's self-justifications utterly disregarded...

A taste of that final tribunal where all is made well...

And thanks to the Mediator who will be there for me!

Hi, Terry...Here to get the rent.

Hi. I haven't cashed my check yet. I will go to the store and do that.

Great. We will be down at the new trailer, working on it. You can just bring the money down there. And, Terry, could you please clean up around here? We will have rats getting into things if you don't.

Yes. Sorry. The kids took the dog off his leash and he got into the garbage.

OK. Well, we will see you later.

Oh hi...Come on in, Terry. Yeah, that's fine, I have five dollars change. Tell me, how is Tiffany? Is she coping alright with the loss of her son? (six years old, handicapped, had been living with his father's mother)

She just isn't the same anymore.

Is she depressed?

No, not really. She just isn't the same. She really won't talk about it, but - if she does - I just try to listen. That is the second child she has lost, you know. She also had a stillborn baby.

I am so sorry! How old is she?

Twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

Noone expects that at that age, do they?...Did you take your little girls to the funeral?

Yes. It was awful. They didn't understand. They went to the front and wouldn't leave their brother. And Tiffany's family just fought with the father's family. They never got along.

That is too bad. What was your family like, Terry?

I saw my Dad a couple of times. I grew up in a group home.

Oh? where was your mom?

She kept getting locked up...

That's hard! I'll bet you and Tiffany are really committed to giving your girls two parents, huh?
Have you ever thought of becoming part of a church to help with raising your girls? We have five kids, and I don't know how we would have done it if we hadn't had biblical answers and wisdom to help us. I always told my kids, and I now tell my grandchildren - that they need God inside them - someone stronger than that "bad guy" in there- to control their sin.

I used to go to the Baptist church when I was young. We would like to have the girls in Sunday School. But I am used to working night shift and we just don't get up on time. when you came to collect the rent this morning, we were just getting up.

I'll bet there are bus ministries that would come and collect them.

Yes, but they are so young, I wouldn't do that yet.

I can see that. Well, listen, I think it is time to have a walk-through of your trailer. Can I come in a couple of hours to do that?...Alright. See you later.

Hi, Terry. Hey, it looks great out here. Thanks so much for cleaning it so well...Hi, Tiffany. May I come in?...It looks wonderful....Tiffany, I'm so sorry to hear about your little son...

....Her eyes well up....Here is a picture of him...

What a sweet boy!

When he was born he had white-blond hair. But it got dark like mine.

Tears...And I give her a hug...

But they are lost. Terry is lost. Tiffany is lost. Elizabeth and Tuesday are lost. And I am just a landlord. In a few weeks they will likely be out of our lives forever.

Surreal.