Almost-Palm-Sunday update

I know, I've been a little bit of a slacker lately. But here's what I've been up to.

  • Passed the 30-pound mark on the diet. 10 more to go, and then I'm stopping at a good, healthy weight. No, I will not be as thin as I was when I got married. Suck it up, J.!!

  • Bought pansies in flats and hanging baskets just about the day they appeared at the garden shop. I'm already pining for my porch, but it's been a little too cold to sit outside. April will be better!

  • I've been missing my neighbors (I have great neighbors!). We tend to get isolated in the winter. It's pathetic to have to say hi to your next-door neighbor on email. I will make more of an effort when we're all outside pulling weeds. Or not pulling them, in my case. Weeds are green, after all. I just leave them alone.

  • Got invited to be a presenter at an ordination!!!! I'm over the moon about this. I even bought a lovely dress with a bright red jacket --red being the appropriate liturgical color --for the occasion (may I recommend J.C. Penney? -- they are practically giving clothes away. Given how often I have an occasion to wear a dress, who wants to spend buckets of money on them?).

  • Stopped drinking and joined AA. It was time, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe past time. Maybe far past time.

  • The Little Princess got into dental school (!!!!!!), so we've been doing the inevitable financial aid forms (the Parental Bank is closed for grad school).

  • We just started a Julian Gathering at church, so I've been helping with that. It's a great group, and we're growing every month! We have still-prayer for 20 minutes, then healthy snacks, then we read and discuss sections from Mother Julian's writings.

  • Signed up for JulianFest in June, and for the 3-day silent retreat preceding it. This is new ground for me. I've been to silent retreats, but 3 days sounds kind of looooong.

  • A bunch of us from church are going into Philly for a Tenebrae service on the Wednesday before Easter. I've never seen this service, but I'm told it's moving and dramatic.

  • I get to be Jesus in the Palm Sunday Passion reading! I have always wanted to be Jesus! In my former church, I remember only male Jesuses. I guess I will read in my alto register. LOL!

  • I'm singing Faure's Requiem with a large choir on Palm Sunday afternoon. So now I have it blasting in my car wherever I go, trying to remind myself what it sounds like.

Well, Holy Week looms before us. It's my favorite week of the year. I hope yours is good!

Comments

Anonymous said…
What a wonderful post. Congrats on the weight loss; I'm envious! And as for the rest of it - it sounds like you've been doing some important inner work over the winter. That's something to be very proud of.

I don't know that I've ever seen you in a dress! :-)

See you in mid-May. And don't worry about the weeds. Just get to know the neighbors.

-the seminarian
12:29 PM
Jan said…
Congratulations on the weight loss. I still need you to be my model!
5:21 PM
susan s. said…
Just checking in to see how you are doing... Good on you for all your pre-spring achievements. Being Jesus.. yes that would be a wonderful thing. Even out here in liberal Berkeley they haven't done that yet! How did the Requiem go? I love that music and love to sing it. Keep up all the good work.
6:41 PM
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