Free Time

...is something I don't have a whole lot of these days, so when I happened upon a couple unexpected hours tonight, I wanted to be careful about how I spent them.  I decided I had time to make some phone calls for my youth group and get in some guitar practice.  So, I headed over to the convent to borrow the guitar and ask a few questions of one of the Sisters, feeling light and enthusiastic. When I entered the comedor (dining room) to find the Sister, I saw a tiny little figure in the light blue Kinder uniform, seated at the table.  The little girl, who looked to be about 5 years old, was morosely eating arroz con leche (rice with milk) with a teaspoon. The sisters hadn't yet been able to reach her father, who, through a miscommunication, had not arrived to pick up his daughter from the Kinder, when it closed three and a half hours earlier.  The sisters and I tried chatting with her to cheer her up, but she eventually broke down and started crying quietly beside her unfinished bowl of arroz.  When I realized she was crying, I went over to her chair and gathered her in my arms. As the sisters finished their evening tea, I cradled her in my lap and sang lullabies in English, trying to calm her breathing.  Taking one from The Sound of Music, I talked to her about her favorite things and told her about some of mine. She nodded and hiccuped, and I blew her nose for her, but she was missing her parents and just wanted to go home. We sat in the chairs at the side of the comedor for probably another 45 minutes, looking through her notebook and listening to the Hermana playing songs on the guitar, both of us being a little silly, just trying to make her feel better.  After her father arrived at the gate, I spent few minutes playing guitar and singing in the chapel. Seems like God had a better plan for my free time than I did.