Although it has only been a week since my last post, it feels as if it has been two. That's because this past week was starkly divided between work and the Easter Triduum. I spent Monday finishing a painting job at Georgia McKinney's in Clarksburg, it was a job I tried to start in February but it was too cold to paint and the primer ran straight down the walls. After finishing that up with Jessica, I helped Laura and Julie put up some underpining and fencing at Linda Posts in Clarksburg. We spent Holy Thursday visiting a lot of our homeowners and delivering Easter baskets, and concluded the day with our Sedar Supper and foot washing at our Parish. I was so excited for the Sedar Supper I was borderline obnoxious about it, but I really enjoy the traditions that the Jewish faith brings into that celebration and had a really great time. Good Friday's 10-mile hike seemed daunting because of projected "severe storms" which really turned into a short rainfall at lunch time. The weather held out and it turned out to be a beautiful day, and the 10-miles wasn't as difficult as people thought it would be. After our volunteers left yesterday I spent some time resting before we went out to dinner and the Easter Vigil. I really came to appreciate St. Gertrude's Easter Vigil Celebration because of all the many small intricacies that make it so celebratory - the way the church is completely dark until the Epistle, how its all decked out with decorations, the reception afterwards where they have those great tea cookies I love... but it was nice to have most of the staff there.
I was also blessed this week to have Caitlin visit for the entire week and to have Andy and Jama come in for the Triduum celebrations. I had the opportunity to work with Caitlin on the underpining at Linda's house, and we had some great time hanging out this week. It was a nice affirmation to our relationship, to the struggles of being long distance, and the fact that we work together well and function well in community. I was also overjoyed to spend a lot of time with Andy and Jama, talking about life and sharing stories from college. I spent quite a few nights up late talking with them. I was really grateful that they took the time to come out this week, that relationship has really developed over time and been very well maintained post-graduation. I'm thankful for that.
We have the remainder of Easter Sunday off, as well as most of Easter Monday. We have 32 high school volunteers arriving tomorrow night to spend the rest of the week with us. Julie and I will be leading a site resurfacing a deck and putting up fencing. I am also looking forward to being in Dayton this upcoming weekend for Caitlin's commitment as a Lay Marianist. We'll have that Monday off so I'll have more time to spend with all the people I love in Dayton.
I hope things are going well for all of my friends and family out there... Happy Easter!
