Well let’s see, where was I? Oh yes, the continuing saga of what happened on Tuesday. By the way, Happy Thanksgiving and I will catch up and have a Thanksgiving post, too:)
After court was over, I had about an hour for lunch and knitting – still working on that scarf and it’s almost finished. When it’s done, I will post pictures. I designed it myself – just a sampler of stitches – and how much can you screw up navy blue, right? (famous last words)
Once I finished a row, I headed over to St. John’s to get my picture taken. I didn’t look too bad, even put lipstick on for the occasion, LOL:) While waiting my turn, I met a really nice woman named Martha and there was another lady with her husband waiting to be photographed as well. Across the church hall sat one of our ushers and his wife. We talked about the language changes in the Lord’s prayer and got a 50/50 response pro and con and of course talked about Thanksgiving – who’s cooking, etc. Martha, who lives alone, was going to bring some side dishes to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house. This friend is apparently dying of cancer that was caught too late to effectively treat, so the holiday is going to be a bittersweet one for Martha.
I was my usual smartass self when it came time to get my picture taken, but it turned out to be OK, not too frightening:). Nancy and Rennie S. showed up as I was waiting to view the photos and get the sales pitch I really didn’t want. It was nice to see them both as it always is – especially Nancy.
After that, I had a meeting with Rev. Rosemary, our newly ordained priest (well, it has been a year, which is a lifetime in actual practice!). I had volunteered to deliver some of the prayer shawls to some of the people on her list of recipients. It was already 5:00 by that time, so three seemed an appropriate number.
My first delivery was to a woman who had undergone joint replacement surgery. She was already well over it and we both had a bit of a laugh, but she was grateful for the shawl. We both wished each other a Happy Thanksgiving as I made my way back from her farmhouse to the main road and on to my next destination.
This one was going to be a lot harder. Charles had just last week lost his only son in an accident. His brother and sister-in-law were there visiting him from out of the country. My heart went out to him for his loss. I have so many children by today’s standards. Yet losing one of them is an experience I cannot even bear to contemplate. There was nothing I could say to Charles to ease his pain, and so I told him. But it was lovely to meet him and his family even under such awful circumstances. He was so gracious and very grateful for the outpouring of love and concern from the other members of the church. His family said that although they were of the same basic denomination, they didn’t feel their church would have been so responsive. I thought back to this past summer when I was in the hospital and how kind everyone had been and I realized, yet again, how lucky we were to be part of that faith community that is St. John’s. Charles, his relatives, and I talked for a few more minutes, until a young lady, a friend of Charles’ son, rang the bell and came and sat with them. She, too, had been devastated by the too-soon death of this young man. I wish I had known him.
After bidding them goodnight, I drove away. The tears started as soon as I hit the main road. This poor man’s grief was overwhelming, but it was also the differences I had seen all day – from the stepfather who murdered one child and almost murdered another to this poor man who would have given anything to have one more day with his beloved son!
My final stop on the prayer shawl route was to Charles Town retirement center, where I made a fairly quick deliverey to Margaret, a kindly woman who was actually doing better since her foot had healed and who was happy for the shawl. She told me she used to do that kind of work. But she seemed kind of tired, so I left soon after the visit.
After leaving her, I made a brief stop at the chapel to ponder the day.
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Wednesday was the carryover of a shelter after a mediation that didn’t happen. While I had no objection to the grandmother taking over the care of this baby, I wanted the parents out of her house. Their explanation for what happened would have been laughable had it not been so near-tragic. Thankfully, the Master was not impressed with the parents’ “explanation.” His response: “That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard. I did not crawl out from under a rock. If I found what your client would want me to find [as a fact], they’d fire me.” It was all I could do to keep my face straight. The mother’s attorney wanted to give me a hard time after the hearing. I overheard the mother start yelling at me that I didn’t understand. I just responded (and I know I shouldn’t have) that “Ma’am, all I know is a 14-month-old almost died Monday and not from any good work I did.”
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Thanksgiving was lovely. We were thirteen at dinner (my lucky number:)). Vicki didn’t make it, but I assume it was due to her crazy schedule. The food was good and of course I ate too much stuff that I shouldn’t have. But we are back to no carbs as of right NOW!
Friday, John and I drove to visit many of his family who had rented a big house on the Jersey shore. We spent a few hours with them and then back home. Had dinner with Betsy and Brie and then went home and crashed. By Sat. AM I realized I had gotten a nasty cold and so today I missed choir and church. You KNOW I had to be sick to miss that (Lord I do be a NERD).
Well, back to the insane pre-Christmas weeks. I love it.
Almost done with Sabrina’s scarf. Pics to come. Below are some from Thanksgiving in MD and NJ:)
