So Much to Do and So Little Time!

How can it be that this is July 13th and I have not written since the end of June? It seems like I just had that special day yesterday. And now I am preparing to go on vacation and barely have time to pack before we are off for 2 weeks.

The weeks since my last post have been VERY full. Preparations for saying good-bye *SIGH* to our priest and his wife at church have been mind boggling! My dear friend C and I were working on a project for what seemed "day and night" for almost 3 weeks. It turned out to be a wonderful pictorial memory book of our church, our Liturgy, our congregation and many memories which we presented to Fr. C and B at their "good-bye" brunch last Sunday. We had worked on the book so long and hard that I felt like I had been in labor "forever" and then finally given birth only to have to give the "baby" up for adoption! I know it is going to a good home, but...!

The brunch was actually the second "good-bye" function. Last Friday was a "good-bye dinner" that was simply delightful...if it wasn't for the occasion! The weather was beautiful for outdoor cocktails and goodies and the dinner was delicious. Toasts were given, gifts were presented, a lovely power point presentation was shown and speeches were made. All in all an enchanting evening...but lots of tears flowed also.

I have been lamenting all of the "lasts." My last Sunday to serve at the altar with Fr. C, my last time at EP with Fr. C (that occurred tonight and all I did was drop little tears on my prayer book). Tomorrow will be the last time I serve at the altar with him forever and just thinking about it makes my eyes water! His office gets emptier every day in direct proportion to my heart breaking. I sure do like to say "hello" so much better!

Along with getting ready for the "final good-bye" to Fr. C I have also been facilitating 3 different adult bereavement support groups for the last six weeks. I seldom have three going at one time but I wanted to accommodate everyone before I left on my two week vacation so I tried it. With the Lodi (Monday nights), Stockton (Weds. nights) and Manteca (Thurs. nights) groups I had a total of 53 people in the groups. Fifty three stories of 53 beautiful people who are grieving the death of someone who was so very important to their lives. Mother, fathers, brothers, sister, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and other loved ones were remembered by the participants telling "their story." Not the story of their deaths...but the stories of their loved one's lives and who they are as survivors today because of they were blessed to have their lives cross.

In one of the groups I had a very devastating thing happen. One of the gentlemen in the group was there with his only child, his daughter. They were grieving the death of his wife and her mother. I watched them grow and heal during the first 5 weeks of the group. Then two days after the 5th week I received a phone call telling me that the gentleman had died that morning. So here was this daughter who had just buried her mother in April and now had to bury her father. The members of the group rose to the occasion. Forgetting their own grief for a while, every single one of them sent her a card and many of them called her. When I went to the funeral on Thursday she said those cards and calls are what kept her going.

The groups are so rewarding. The first night everyone just sits very quietly just looking at their feet or glancing through the literature they are given. By the last night everyone is laughing and talking and making plans to get together and talking about the future. Wow! However, all that emotion for 3 nights a week for 6 weeks along with my OWN emotion has been one very long roller coaster ride!

I need a vacation! Of course going on vacation with B is seldom relaxing but it is always interesting. We fly to Chicago early Sunday morning. I tell everyone I am going to Chicago to visit my Aunt Pam...he tells everyone we are going to Chicago to see a couple of Cubs games and maybe see Barry Bonds break the record of home runs in the beautiful confines of Wrigley Field! After a week in Chicago (during which we shall do both of the above...although I can't vouch for the Barry Bonds part!) we fly to Boston. I say we are going to Massachusetts to see my Dad. Bob says we are going East to take a road trip up the coast to visit light houses and a National Park! Again, we shall do both!

I'm not taking my laptop computer so I won't be able to send posts like by good friend K did on her vacation. In fact, I'm not even going to look at a computer!

So, to those who may occasionally frequent this little blog I say "good-bye" for two weeks! I know I will have itchy fingers to write again when we return on July 27th. May God bless each and every one of you and keep you in His loving arms!