No... I'm Ali

A few years ago, if anyone ever told me I would go to two church services in one day, I would have thought they were crazy. Well, today it happened. I was looking forward to attending City Church since I hadn't been there for a few weeks due to my work and personal travels. I was running a little late this morning so I rushed into the Russian Center, where City Church holds it's services, put my things down next to my friend Vicki and dashed off to see if there were any doughnuts left. "Yes!" I thought to myself, as I grabbed the last old fashioned glazed doughnut. Yum... so happy about that. I got some coffee, said hello to my physical therapy friend, Bryan, and the service started. I was all set up to take in the teaching of the day. It was nice to be back into my Sunday routine. After the service I chatted with a few friends from my community group, went to a class and was done around 2:30 PM. OK... that was church #1.

I hurried home before I set off to the 4:00 PM service at church #2 because I realized I should have some pictures with me of Meg, Morgan, and David. I had been invited to what was called a "Rally Sunday" at Golden Gate Community Church (GGCC). GGCC was my sister Meg's church during the many years she lived in San Francisco. She loved GGCC and even though she is very happy in Spokane, I'm sure she misses her friends from her old church a lot. Over a year ago, when I started looking into churches in SF, it was important to me to go somewhere other than GGCC. It was nothing against her church, it was that Meg was incredibly involved. She was a big part of the worship music and often sang in front of the congregation. Myself, on the other hand, had not attended church regularly since I was a teenager. I didn't even really know what it meant to be a Christian so I decided it was best for me to go somewhere where I wasn't known. I needed to find my own path and not be expected to fill Meg's shoes. I knew I couldn't do that, not by a long shot!

I enjoyed the service this afternoon at Golden Gate. It was different than City Church, but good at the same time. They had a group called "Thankful" playing praise music and seriously rocked out! I had gone to a few GGCC services with Meg over the years and they always played upbeat music, but this with a notch up from that. When the service was over, I braced myself for the inevitable. Yup... here it comes... a man walked up to me and said, "Meg Bottomley!" Gulp, flash a smile. "No... I'm Ali."

I'm more used to this situation than you may think. The advertising agency I worked at when I first moved to SF, was three blocks away from a design firm where Meg used to work. Every month at least one person approached me on the street with, "Meg! It's so great to see you!" They would look embarrassed and confused when I said, "No," but were relieved when I explained we are twins. Today one woman walked by me and said, "Wow, you look great after just having a baby!" Hee. Meg does look great, but of course I had to let her know I wasn't Meg. There were a few people that walked over and said, "You're Meg's twin, right?" Everyone I met was very nice and I even had a chance to catch up a little with my high school friend Kathy. Of course everyone was super excited to see the photos I brought of Meg, David, and Morgan in her Easter bunny ears.

When I left the church this evening I laughed to myself. I thought, someday... I don't know where, I don't know when, but someone is going to walk up to Meg and say, "Hi Ali!" She will have to say, "No... I'm Meg."