Whew! What a workout!
I’m on the Altar Guild, and the current head is training me to take over for her, as both she and her husband are in poor health, and this is a position I held back in the 80s, right after I retired.
More costume changes than the Ice Capades -purple all during Lent, the red for Palm Sunday, purple again for Maundy Thursday, only to strip down the altar at the end of the service, and then on Saturday morning, everything has to be gussied up for Easter Vigil and Easter Day itself. By the end of the second service today, Fr. M said, “It is finished, well and truly”.
I’m on a new medication, which has caused me to put on an inordinate amount of weight, and when I tried on my Easter Suit Wednesday night, I knew there was no way I was going to squeeze this body into that outfit. Thursday morning, while The Squire went to the Y, I took the car to Target and JC Penney’s. Target has some cute outfits, but nothing suitable for a little old lady, but I really lucked out at Penney’s. They had just marked down a bunch of $60 dresses to half price, and they were suitable for an adult to wear. Fancy that! I wore the dress to church Saturday night and again today.
Fr. M always invites the children in the congregation up to the altar when he does communion, so they can see what’s going on. He lets them help break the large priest’s host into smaller pieces, and when we say the Lord’s Prayer he has them all hold hands, and sometimes the kids will start to swing their hands back and forth. It’s pretty informal, but the kids get the idea that going to church is fun, not drudgery, which is nice. The smallest of the lot somehow got behind him this morning, so she couldn’t see anything, and when he backed up he nearly squashed her. She is too short to see, anyway, so I ended up doing half of the Prayer of Consecration holding her in my arms. She may be little, but she certainly was beginning to get heavy!
We have an elderly retired priest in the congregation, who showed up wearing a top hat, and using a cane. When the congregation was leaving after the service, a one-year old grabbed hold of the cane, and she and Paul walked out together – the oldest and the youngest.
We went up to Eldest Daughter’s home for Easter dinner – just the two of them, plus both of their kids, the Munchkin, and The Squire and myself. Just nice. Granddaughter-in-law is the sweetest girl, and I really wish we had a chance to get together more often than we do.
And I am exhausted, and going off to bed.
A very little girl, with a very large drumstick.
thisendoftheswamp 