The DeGeorges

I met the DeGeorges because of a T-Shirt. I was sitting near the only available power outlets in terminal 9 of JFK charging my laptop and surreptitiously snacking on the rye crisps and salami I had brought from Moscow when somebody asked me "How many can you juggle?" For a moment I had no idea how he knew I was a juggler, but then I remembered I was wearing my juggling t-shirt, so I turned around and replied "five."

We got to talking. It turns out that the DeGeorges were heading to Pittsburgh, just like me, and that they had a daughter my age working there. We talked more. The DeGeorges were coming back from a trip in Italy. They hadn't traveled in a long while. I was coming back from my trip to Moscow. Travel was a bit less foreign to me. They found out I loved the mountains, and that I knew next to nobody in Pitsburgh, and offered to show me their mountains if I ever came down to where they lived. As we patiently waited through the long plane delays, our mutual suffering brought us closer. I felt for a little while that the DeGeorges were my family away from my mother in this airport that certainly was not home.

When we arrived to Pittsburgh I met the DeGeorges' daughter Courey, and the DeGeorges made sure I found a cab. We said our goodbyes, and I thought to myself, "There goes a wonderful family I will probably never see again."

But, I was wrong. I had thought about the DeGeorges a little during my first week at school, wondering what the Fourth of July would be like with them, and wishing I had something to do that weekend. Then, late on Wednesday night (the fourth of July was on Friday), Courey wrote on my Facebook wall and asked if I wanted to join the DeGeorges for the Fourth of July. I was honestly taken aback. Here were some people that I hardly even knew, and they were inviting me to stay with them for an entire weekend. How could they know that I was just a normal girl and not a thief or a loafer? The DeGeorges were either incredibly nice or slightly mad. Fortunately, I found out during the weekend that they were very much the former.

My weekend with the DeGeorges was wonderful. I found a common language with Courey in my love for cafes, and had a lot of fun discussing crocs and movies with her. Ironically, Courey had convinced me to try to not drink caffeine for 50 days, and I accepted. I'm on 19 now. I was especially impressed by how Courey seems to have a very concrete reason for why she likes things. She knows exactly why she likes Crocs, for example, "Because when I'm old and my grandkids ask me 'did you wear those crazy shoes' I'll proudly say 'yes! I was part of the phenomenon!' "

I felt so comfortable in their house, working on my website during the day, eating wonderful dinners and talking with them at night. The DeGeorges are easily some of the nicest people I've met in my entire life.

My favorite part of the weekend was going hiking on Hemlock trail, a secluded, rainforest-like path through the woods of West Virginia. The air there was so dense that I felt I was in a rainforest.

My second-favorite part of the weekend was probably going to Mass on Sunday. I am not religious, but the DeGeorges were pretty serious Catholics. I was surprised to see just how much of their lives involved religion in some form. It wasn't just praying before dinner; God seemed to come up in so many of the conversations we had together. I've always been open to religion, and really enjoyed talking about God with my friend Caleb. So, I really enjoyed listening to these conversations. I did feel a little bit uncomfortable before Mass on Sunday, mostly because I didn't know what to do, and because I knew was not allowed to partake in the entire Mass (thus I was afraid I'd be singled out and stigmatized).

But despite this discomfort, I felt incredibly moved by the Mass. I can't really explain why. Maybe it was the atmosphere, the quiet tone with which the priest spoke, or the serenity of the people around me. During the mass I realized that I didn't understand what was central to the lives of so many people in this world: religion. Nations are created and wars fought because of religion, and I had no understanding of it, religion was missing from my life.

I've decided to change that now. I have started reading the Bible recently, and hope to read the whole thing so that I can better understand God. I am so fortunate to have bumped into the DeGeorges on that day in JFK. Isn't it amazing what a single t-shirt can lead to?