At the end of the day.....
I just said goodbye to the the kitchen crew who came to help me with the Thai Food dinner from last year's school auction. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it a great evening. Almost all the food was gone and I don't think the kitchen crew really got much to eat. Next year I will have to quadruple the recipes. I am also going to add another vegetarian dish to the menu.
Shopping and preparation for the meal took me all day. I left shortly after the Monday Morning Offering at school and haven't stopped moving until now. Things got a little complicated with some stores having some ingredients and others not. I also had to buy some new table settings and a deep fat fryer for the hors d'oeuvres. Ideally, I would have started my shopping at least the day before, but that just didn't happen with my schedule.
My folks probably would have come over and helped but they misread my email and thought the gathering was next week. My dad would have liked sharing hunting and fishing stories with one the guests who is a pretty avid hunter and fisherman. I did manage to locate a few photos for bragging rights :)
Once again I forgot to pick up my medication from the pharmacy that helps relax my stomach so I can sleep at night. I don't expect I'll get a good night of sleep, but I don't have a lot of plans for tomorrow and can sleep when necessary.
On a sad note, I received another email from a couple who has having serious struggles in their marriage. I wish we had more resources in our Church to support marriage. I pray daily for married couples but we need practical programs to help people work through their differences. I can only do so much to help with spiritual issues but I don't at all feel like I have a network of people to connect couples to. Retrouvaille is a good program but there are few weekends for couples to participate in and the follow-up has a limited lifespan. One of my brother priests spent a year in his parish focusing on marriage and I know he conducted a retreat experience. I will have to talk to him about getting some ideas. We need to have more resources for people.
My cat Samson who is usually shy when large crowds visit the rectory made several appearances during the evening. At one point he jumped up to examine the hors d'oeuvre tray. I quickly responded by whacking him over the head with a napkin. He has never done that before and hopefully won't in the future. I was kind of embarrassed. I was going to get even by skipping his dinner tonight but the constant caterwauling and scratching at my bedroom door finally made me give in. Yes, I wouldn't make a very good parent―way too soft!
Glad to have a day off tomorrow. I hope to get more work done on my next CD.
