Dear Inner Circle,

A woman sat so close to me in the café this morning that to even pick up my cup of coffee was awkward. “Do you have a job?” she asked. “Yes I have a job” I replied. “Do you have a car?” she asked. “Yes” I said, “I have a car”. “Do you have a wife?” was the next question. When I replied, “Yes, I’m married to a lovely woman” my interrogator suddenly lost interest and moved away.

Leslie is a person whose entrance into any room, warms it up. Every day of my life I’m in awe of the team of people who give their lives to serve others at Wayside. Leslie is a youth worker and as she walked in this morning, about ten people all lit up in some way or yelled out, “Hi”. One big boofy fellow got up and gave her a hug. The bloke sitting next to me turned and said, “That big bloke seems to get away with hugging women. I think it's because he’s old and big and he's like everyone’s grandfather. Some blokes” he said, “can’t get away with it because the women just know somehow that it wouldn't be ‘a thing’”. “So” I said, “if you hugged Leslie, would there be ‘a thing’”? He replied through a warm, wide smile, “It would definitely be ‘a thing’ and she’d know it and put me in my place.”

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