My friend Olga

At work, I sit next to a woman who is about the most opposite personality you can imagine. I'll call her Olga. She is pretty and fashionable, and wears low cut blouses, and high heels. I'm practical and like casual, comfortable clothes, and only wear flats. She is from Russia. I am from the U.S. She is Jewish, I'm Christian. Religion is significant to her merely for it's traditional or cultural elements -- she is just as likely to refer to herself as an Atheist. I'm a born again Christian.And to top it off, of all the Christian churches in the world, she has a particular antagonism to the Vineyard (my church), because a friend of hers was converted to Christianity by a missionary in Siberia. A missionary from the Vineyard. Truth is really stranger than fiction -- even in a soap opera this would seem implausible.

Of course, it took a while for all these differences to reveal themselves, but apparently our co-workers were were waiting with some amusement to see how it would all play out, since they expected the religious difference to cause sparks to fly.

And yet, we seem to be becoming friends. I'm not doing anything special, just allowing her to be herself. I merely make a point of saying 'Good Morning', and I allow her to say confrontational things without jumping down her throat. And most of all, she knows she is allowed to tease me. This amazes her. Sometimes I think she lays in bed at night thinking up things to say to me.

Olga: Religion causes most of the problems in the world!
Me: You think so?
Olga: Oh, now you will think I am terrible. You must be so offended at what I said. This is why people hate me.
Me: I might not agree with you, but you have a right to your opinion.
Olga: Really? you will let me say that?

Now that we are getting to know each other, and she is no longer afraid of me, I'm finding out that she also has quite a sense of humor. She is sometimes like a kid, teasing me just to see what I'll do. The other day she was sitting with someone at her desk, and suddenly spoke a little louder (so I could hear, of course) and said, "Oh, I hope Ann didn't hear that!". So of course I ran over to her desk, and shook my head, and said with exaggerated sadness, "Olga, Olga, have you been saying bad things?" Whereupon she turned to her visitor and explained: "This is Ann. She's very religious, but she's not uptight."

She has been going through the stresses that working mothers experience, and often refers to herself as a terrible mother. And then I protest and say I don't think she is a terrible mother at all. And she is always surprised, because she expects me to reprimand her lack of perfection. I finally said that I thought she was a much better mother than I would be, and she was astounded.

Then there was the day she was sitting at my desk, sharing a story about her daughter. I didn't want to interrupt her, so when my phone rang I briefly answered, and simply said, "Sorry, I'm in a meeting, I'll call you back." She was touched that I had valued her conversation enough to hang up on the other person, but was appalled that I had said I was in a meeting. I asked her:

Me: do you feel that I lied?
Olga: (very primly). That is between you and your Lord and Savior!