Yesterday I spent a decent part of the day at the community center. Our church was having a craft show and pancake breakfast and Santa came. It was a lot of fun and I had some good conversations with an amazing woman. Her name is Carla. She is extremely artistic and intelligent. And I learned something new about her yesterday.

But first I have to tell you about the community center. It used to be a factoryish building, I think. It is located on the same block as our church. Part of it became the new preschool that a woman from our church teaches. The other part became a gymnasium. A bunch of building codes and laws made finishing the gym so it was legal to use take a very long time. But now it's done, and a really nice place to chill and have a really good time.

Carla and I were talking and the conversation we were having kinda died out. She looked around and said something like "This gym is huge, and it's so beautiful. Your father did a lot of work on it, a lot of people did." And then she just looked up at the ceiling and the walls and took it in. Carla didn't see just a room that took forever to get done. She saw a beautiful thing that people had created. Carla didn't see the paint, she saw the hands that painted. Carla didn't see plain metal beams across the ceiling, she saw the labor and perfection of many hours of planning and work. Carla didn't see a room. She saw artwork.

I want to see things like that.

I looked around the gym after she said that, and I realized how beautiful it really was. I saw all the people who worked, and I was thankful, because they did a fantastic job. I don't think I'll look at buildings as just bricks and stone anymore. And the desks in school are no longer ugly and plain.

I'm really glad I sat next to Carla yesterday.