corner store irony

Last evening when I came home I immediately traded my skirt and heels for a nice comfy pair of blue sweat pants that Anna gave me. The sweats are much too big for me, but the long pant legs are the perfect length to fall down over my feet and serve a double purpose as trousers AND socks, so I don't mind the extra length.
I wear them mostly around the house and for bed time.

Up the hill, there is a corner store that Anna and I like to run to during commercial breaks. Its just close enough that we can dash up the hill for a juice box and still be back in time to see how our host mom's favorite soaps are going. Last night was one of those nights. When the commercial break came I looked at Anna and said, "wanna run up to the shop and get some lowfat Ambrosia custard?" (This is essentially low fat vanilla pudding, but the name custard makes it taste more exotic.)
We didn't have time to change into decent clothes, so I stuffed my sweat pants inside the tall, pink striped galoshes Rachel gave me for my birthday. By the time I went out the door, I looked ridiculous with bright blue baggy pants stuffed inside my bright striped rubber boots. I muttered to Anna as we dashed up the hill that 'I'd better not see any of my students in the shop.'

But of course, God likes to exercise my humility quite a bit it seems. While I stood at the register paying for the glorified vanilla pudding, looking like a kids birthday party clown, a girl in a school uniform stepped in line behind me. I glanced back to see who it was and it just so happened to be exactly the girl I wouldn't want it to be. A few weeks ago I saw two girls picking on a little boy on the bus. They did this day after day and I could tell that the boy was miserable. He would purposely get off the bus miles before his bus stop just to avoid being bothered by the girls. So finally I told the 'higher-ups' and the girls got in trouble. Now, one thing I try very hard to show my students is that adults don't hold grudges. Any time I have to get stern with a student, I try to communicate with them kindly and normally after the event, so that they know my problem is with their actions and not with who they are. I talked normally with the girl in class: asked her how her work was coming along, etc. I often see the girls when I walk to the bus since they live on my street, so I made sure to wave to them as I walked by.
They never wave back.

So I laughed at the irony when I turned around and saw the girl who doesn't wave. Its always been my opinion that ridiculousness is less embarrassing when confronted full force, so I turned to her and said, "I KNEW I'd see a student if I walked out the door dressed like this."
She laughed and smiled back.

Now that I think about it, if my ridiculous outfit made the girl who doesn't wave smile at me, then perhaps God was doing more than simply trying to humble me.
Perhaps he was humbling her.