One time my mother and I were Christmas shopping at Hancock Center in central Austin. I think I was only about 4 or 5 years old because Highland Mall hadn't been built yet.
I saw, I think, 3 nuns walking toward us. We had just walked into J.C. Penny's, I think, (I was only a kid, and it was a long time ago), and the nuns, in black habits with white wimples and black veils swooshed past us on their way out of the store. I don't think I'd ever seen any nuns before.
I asked my mom who they were and why were they dressed like that. This is the embarrassing part: I remember thinking that they'd been injured or something because their wimples looked like bandages to me. My mom, stressed out over her Christmas shopping just murmured, "Those are nuns, Judi," without any further explanation.
I vaguely remember wanting to follow them to see where they were going. They disappeared into the parking lot, and the black of the night, and I obediently followed my mom further into the store to shop.
Nuns are still mysterious to me.
Serious, sorta scary, but fascinating at the same time.
