Today's condescension

This morning Penny and I went with some friends to an awesome Smithsonian Museum called the Building Museum. It focuses on architecture, civil engineering, and structural building. There is a kids' playroom for preschoolers where they can play in little houses, build with blocks, and wear construction equipment. Penny had a blast with all the toys and kids.

I highly recommend the Building Museum, despite its weird name.

Our real adventure of the day, though, was on the subway.

Penny is a cutie pie, and most of the time we go out and about, people wave or say hi. Often some of the homeless people in our neighborhood say hi to her, and sometimes stop to talk. As long as there are plenty of people around and no one gets too close to Penny, I don't mind if people like to talk to her. Little kids are sweet, cute, and nonjudgmental. Talking to Penny makes my day, and I hope it lifts the spirits of others.

That being said, today's experience was very... different.

While we waited on the subway platform, an apparently homeless man came up to us and started talking to Penny. He was very friendly. "Hi Jesus," he said.

He kind of squatted down and talked to her a little bit (giving her plenty of space, and it was a busy subway today). He kept talking while he retied his scarf around his head, and then he touched his head, his heart, and then both his shoulders. It was then that I realized, he wasn't squatting down-- he was kneeling.

I listened more carefully to what he was saying: "Thank you for forgiving me my sins; I will never go back. Never go back. I don't have a wife. I love God." He pulled out a necklace that had a variety of crosses, beads, pictures, and cards on it, and continued his devotion.

I stood there and stared, wondering if I should move further down the platform or just let the man have his moment. I didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, I'm not very comfortable with people praying to my daughter. Luckily, I didn't have to fret very long, because the train arrived, and we found a seat behind where this man was facing.

After a couple stops, though, he came back over to us and sat across from Penny. Again, he sat far enough away from us that I didn't feel like he was dangerous. But it was very, very strange.

He pulled out a card from his necklace and showed it to Penny. He pointed to Jesus' picture on it and told Penny, "This is you. This is you!"

Then he took a quarter from his pouch and offered it to me. I tried to decline it (I mean, who takes money from a homeless man?!), but he insisted: "It's for her piggy bank." I eventually accepted it and thanked him.

He explained to me that he was Catholic and Protestant and believed in the Trinity, that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit were one. His scarf had gold print all over it saying, "I Love Jesus," and he told me he was from New Orleans, but that he was never going back to his old life.

As we got off the train, he smiled at me. "And the Virgin Mary. You're a gift, too. God bless you!"

So if anyone asks, just let them know we're in the DC area for a while.