Hippocampus

I was lost.
The concrete walls loomed in the early gray dawn.
The court lay tucked amongst the Dominican priory's back garden.
Finally, a racquetball court.

I had almost forgotten that I was in Texas.
The roads were closed and I thought I could myself through the construction zone.
I did find the court. A rare one that is not enclosed in a gym.

"Sister, you play racquetball?"
Sheila looked at me, half-puzzled.
"Well, only if we can find a place. Do you?"
She murmured, "I play it... I just didn't know nuns played!"

"Oh yes, you probably thought we did card games or badminton or frisbee..."
She flushed red. "Something I picked up in my high school years... I always liked the violence!" I quickly continued as she began to notice I was teasing her.
"Violence?"
"It's the hippocampus, Sheila! You ever wonder why girls remember much more than guys? It's because we have a bigger hippocampus... it is a part of the brain! Emotion and memory are closely related. You always remember what made an emotional impact on you."
"Mmmm.... yes, I always remember when I went to school with a hole in my back pocket and didn't know it until the end of the day!"

Sheila had walked into church one day, alone.
She wanted to be there and yet, she didn't know where to sit.
She looked Vietnamese and she was Vietnamese.
She was adopted by American parents as a baby.

"You know, God plays too!"
"Where in the Bible?"
Although Sheila's adoptive parents did not bring her up in any Christian tradition, she knew her Bible very well. The Roman Catholic Church was the fifth church she has been looking into.

"Proverbs 8: 30 - 31.
Then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
Playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth."

"Sweet.... How come the King James Version is different?"
I laughed.
"Well, do you think when King James decided to break away from the Catholic Church that he had the best Bible translators in his court?"
She remained silent.
"Church history. It might be something you want to look into if you are serious about picking among the different Christian groups....now, let's be God-like now... you want to play?"
She laughed good-naturedly. "Sister, remember you like violence and I want to live! Let's rollerblade."

ps. Photo of a butterfly we saw along the way... from a God who set the rules of science and the music of poetry.
ps2. Photo on http://www.myhdwallpapers.net/