ISLAND BAPTIST YOUTH GROUP by Kel Hale (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING

Today has been pretty long, but not so long that I wanted to skip out on the plan to go to Island Baptist Youth Group with Jenna and the others in the Snap group.

Josh drove me here in his Explorer. Micah said he bought it a while back when they were early in the adoption process so that the family—that word’s starting to grow on me—would have transportation as needed.

“We’ll need to start working on getting you a license.” Josh said it like he was asking if I wanted to upsize my fries.

When we got to the church, he asked if I had my phone. I said yes and made a mental note to assure Josh and Geoni that I’d more likely forget to put on shoes than forget my phone. They’re learning as they go, too.

I’ve been to church groups pretty much my whole life. This was like that.

I got to meet Gabe, Mateo, and Brooks. Before that, I only knew them from Snapchat. They were pretty much the same in person as they are in chat.

Brooks made sure to introduce Jenna and me to everyone in the room. But it didn’t land cringe. She was good at it. The leaders were pretty chill. I thought the food was good, but I guess my bar isn’t very high.

Gabe might have been the bright spot of the night. He’s hysterical. And smart.

He sometimes called me new guy and called Jenna new girl, but it came off kinda nice. I don’t know… He also sometimes called Brooks FryGirl, which is her Snapchat name.

When we first sat down with our food, Gabe pointed at me with his fork. “New guy gets five minutes before we judge him. Start the clock.”

Brooks side-eyed him and said, “We do not judge people.”

Gabe shrugged. “Fine. We spiritually evaluate.”

Mateo shook his head and looked at Gabe. “Bruh…”

Gabe looked at me. “My bad. Just breaking the ice.”

The lesson was about the time the guys lowered the paralyzed man down through the roof for Jesus to heal him. It was about faith.

Gabe raised his hand, and when he was called on, he said, “Bro… what about the faith of the dudes who cut a hole in the roof? Like, they had to believe Jesus would do it and also that he’d keep them out of jail, right?”

There was a subtle depth to that, too, if you stopped and thought about it.

Mateo was like the dad in the group. I think I click with him pretty well. I’m not outlandish or anything over the top.

Jenna wasn’t shy about things, but she was—I’ll call it measured. I could tell she’s no stranger to being new to a group, which makes sense since her dad’s in the Coast Guard and she’s had to move a lot.

When it was over, Brooks said, “We should walk to Whataburger for shakes.”

It’s literally just across the parking lot from the church.

Gabe shrugged. “I’ll hang out. I don’t have anything on my Venmo right now.”

I don’t know what to call how I felt. Josh gave me a handful of $20s, and I felt like I should offer to buy, but then… I don’t even know all the thoughts. Putting on airs came to mind.

I had the money. That wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that I didn’t know what the money meant yet. If I bought shakes for everyone, was I being nice? Was I trying too hard? Was I acting like I’d been adopted into money for three whole days and already forgot how to be normal?

“Let me text my…” I didn’t know what to call them, so I just left it hanging. “See if they’ll pick me up there.”

Kel: “Can I go to Whataburger for a milkshake, and can I offer to buy for everyone? Like, am I supposed to do stuff like that?”

Josh: “Yes and yes. Glad you asked. All good. It’s complicated, so we’ll talk about it when you get home.”

Aside—“home” sort of choked me up. Back to the story.

“I can go. How about I buy for everyone? My way of saying thanks for including me.”

Mateo glanced at Gabe, then back at me. Not in a suspicious way. More like he understood I was trying to make sure no one got left out.

“How about we split it?” he said. “You say thanks, and I say welcome to you and Jenna.”

And that’s how it went down.

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