Ice Cream with the Bishop - Sunday night, the children of the parish got to have ice cream with Bishop Benjamin of Berkeley.

Bishop Benjamin should be a stand-up comic, but he's not just funny, he's truly loving and warm and friendly. We enjoyed our time thoroughly. It's neat for the kids (and for me) to get to know the Bishop as not a stiff and formal hierarch, but as a real person.

He has a cat, he used to have four, but as he said "My nephew left them out and the coyotes got them. I've left my nephew out, but the coyotes have left him alone"

He told us about reactions to his vestments "I watched a guy in St. Louis run into a pole while staring at me";
"Kids sometimes say, 'Look Mom, it's God' - I answer 'no, but I work for him'";
"Someone asked where I was from, I answered Hollywood. He nodded and said, oh ok"
and the visual of someone telling him "Cool outfit" and then watching as he approached the Cathedral in San Francisco, the bells started to ring, his vestments were brought out to the doors of the church, and all the hubbub made me giggle all night.

He also discussed how traveling helps us to learn the cultural differences around the world "I have friends who can't believe we eat cheese. You know, we take milk from a cow, and then let it sit until it is stinky and blue, then we eat it. Have you ever smelled parmesan, it smells like an unwashed eight year old
In that same discussion, I learned that Cedric would try seal meat. Who knew?

Left to right: Cedric, Bishop Benjamin and our priest, Father John Pierce.

I hope everyone's interactions with their spiritual leaders is as satisfying.