Paid Forward!

By Christian (photos by Christine)

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I don’t know if you have ever been to San Luis, Colorado in the San Luis valley.
It’s the oldest town in Colorado, registered in 1851. Mainly Hispanic settlers used to live there.
Population today is about 600.

Stations of the Cross, San Luis

There are beautiful Stations of the Cross going up to a Chapel, rightly called the Shrine of the Stations of the Cross on top of a hill. There is another great Church ‘down town’ with a bed and breakfast attached, the Convent.

The convent

Then you have Main Street with two gas stations at both ends, and one cantina.
It was the very beginning of April when we went there, very few tourists, Main Street was kind of deserted.

We had an 18 years old French friend visiting us and we wanted to show her a bit of deep Colorado. Friends of ours had lent us their adobe house for the weekend and we had just arrived and wanted to eat.
We entered the cantina,  where only two tables were taken, one with four or six farm hands who stopped eating when we entered with our three teenage girls,  and another table with two Anglo couples sitting a bit in the back of the dining room.

It was kind of late in the afternoon; we ordered, blessed the table, made the Sign of the Cross as usual, and enjoyed our meal. The farm hands left their table, still staring at the girls, their lower jaws still hanging, and then the two Anglo couples also left the cantina. We realized that we were the only customers left and that it was maybe time for us to ask for the check and leave too.
So I asked the nice lady at the cash register for the check and she answered: “It’s been taken care of”. Her answer didn’t bother me since I am used to the fact that people don’t understand me when I speak. So I reiterated my question, I made an effort to articulate and polished my American accent. I got the same answer and I just couldn’t get it. It must have seemed obvious to the lady who got down from her high stool and came to our table to tell us: “Well I promised I wouldn’t tell you, but the two Anglo couples who were sitting there had a problem in their family, they prayed about it and the problem was solved. So they wanted to share their blessing and paid for your meal!”
What about that?
I promised I would never be shy blessing the table in public and so should you.

The San Luis Valley