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

Instructors Interview: How Did You Meet?

--> Maria and Dan
Maria's Story: In my junior year of college, I spent the Spring semester in Fiesole - just outside of Florence, Italy. There was a small group of students on the program, many like me were studying Art History, and we all enjoyed our time together in this amazing place. We called ourselves the "Villans" - giving a humorous nod to the beautiful Tuscan villa where we studied and most of us lived. 
However, I lived with a host family nearby as did my friend Phil.
Toward the end of our semester, Phil's mom and brother and sister came to visit. Phil invited me and a few others to join them for dinner. 

That evening, we met at the Villa.

The Villa

As cliché as it may be, when I first saw Phil's brother Dan, it was love at first sight. We chatted away while walking through Florence and even managed to share our meals with each other at the restaurant. He was only visiting for a few more days, and we kept trying to run into one another. The evening before he left we all went out dancing and then to a cafe where we talked and talked until we missed the last bus and Dan had to walk me to my host family's home. I remember the intensity of Springtime in Italy as we made our way along the stone streets - the heady scent of wisteria blooms, the warmer evening, it was even the height of the Hale-Bopp comet! 

http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/comet.jp

I found Dan fantastically handsome with his longish curly hair, and his great sense of humor had me laughing till my sides hurt. He was a snowboard instructor in Colorado and seemed to reflect the relaxed freedom of the American West. I also remember thinking he was so intelligent because he remembered a court case that he studied in law school regarding my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio.
But of course his visit was at an end and I still had to finish classes. Dan started making phone calls to his brother and then at the end of the conversation he would ask if I was around. We also kept in touch through some primitive e-mail and of course when I returned from Italy, I made my way out to Colorado to see him again! 

Dan's Story: I moved to Colorado in October of 1995, hoping to teach snowboarding at Beaver Creek. In my second season of teaching, my brother Phil was studying abroad in Italy as a junior in college. Before my dad passed away in 1990, my family had traveled to Italy a few times and it had always been fun. However, I never knew the language. This spring of 1997, my family planned to travel to Fiesole, near Florence, to visit my brother Phil. To prepare for this trip, I studied from a book at the library to learn Italian. My brother teased me that I wouldn't know anything, but I was pleased with my progress.

Fiesole, Italy

I was only in Italy for 6 days. Maria and I can't seem to remember which day we met, but it was special. We were at the Villa, which was beautiful. And my family was staying at the convent very close by. Maria taught me a small part of a piano duet. She was unbelievably beautiful, wonderful, and intelligent. Somehow we managed to share some time together, and even pizza and pasta, which we had to share diagonally across a table of eight or ten people, since we didn't get to sit together, although we really wanted to!
Following my return, I called my brother Phil at the Villa for the first time. Then I asked for Maria! Through God's grace we are here today together with our seven children. And it's still hard to share dinner together across the table of nine people!

2012: Maria and Dan's seven children