another first.

My weekend without sermon writing was true in its title – besides some touch-up work on the sermon Saturday night, I spent no time writing.  It was wonderful.

However [yeah.  there’s a however.] it was anything but a weekend free of work.

I had a board meeting on Friday afternoon at the nursing home in Austin.  Have I told you I’m on a board of directors at a nursing home?  I’m a warm body in a chair and that’s pretty much it because I still can’t read the financial sheet they hand out each month.  I spend an hour driving to and from and the 1.5 hours there in a daze.  It is on my day off, after all.

And then [yeah.  there’s an and then.] I went to the post office to drop off a bulk mailing.  From there, it was to the funeral home.

That’s right.  This girl has her first funeral at ROG this week.

I met the funeral director to get the scoop [the family had met earlier that day and I was not invited into that conversation.  weird?], drove home, and went to the office.  [Sidenote: The funeral director?  Surprisingly young.  And married.  I looked.  But I do wonder what makes a person want to become one who arranges funerals and preserves bodies.  I admire them.]  I had phone calls to make, funeral church arrangements to secure, and my own bearings to find.  

I met with the family on Saturday morning to plan the service.  It was good to meet them before it all – I had only met the husband once [when I visited he and his wife – now deceased – in my first month here].  We chatted.  We planned.  Now tomorrow my task will be to prepare for it all on Tuesday.

Tuesday is December 6th which marks exactly my three month anniversary at ROG.  It’s as if the universe is saying the easy part is over.  It’s real now.