Mario

Every now and again life gives us pictures. Some are pictures that take our breath away; I will never forget pulling the car to the side of the road to gaze at the majestic Pikes Peak while on I25. Some pictures warm your heart; I almost kidnapped a little girl in Wichita Falls one day because she heard my name and greeted me with it so enthusiastically when I was walking away. Other pictures never cease to make you laugh; YouTube "woman falls through floor."



I thought I would share one of those neat pictures with you. Some time around 1998 a man named Mario im'ed me. He had been searching profiles on AOL (if you can remember that world) and saw that I was studying Spanish in the United States.



"Mario from Portugal" as I would come to know him said that he was studying English, and asked if I would like to be his email pen pail so we could both work on our foreign languages. I consented and for about three months I kept up a correspondence.



But an interesting thing happened. I stopped emailing Mario quite some time ago, almost 10 years now, while he continued to email me. Every week or so an email will pop up in my inbox with the subject "friend" and Mario will tell me about his week (in much improved English) and sometimes throw in a devotional.



I have discarded more of these emails than I have ever opened, and regretfully I respond so infrequently. However, if and when I do respond the next day Mario has replied right back. Regardless of my silence Mario types on.


Now isn't that a neat picture?