2PM Mary

This is one of the busiest weeks of the Church Year, as it leads up to Christmas. My calendar right now includes everything from meetings with parishioners to choir rehearsals. There is a 'ton' of admin work to do. Then there is also a special feast day tomorrow for St. Thomas, Apostle (Dec. 21, which also happens to be Winter Solstice). We'll celebrate that with Solemn Evensong this evening and Matins & Holy Communion tomorrow morning.

Yesterday afternoon my calendar contained the entry, "2PM Mary". This was written in by my wife because she had a doctor appointment to go to, and she was going to drop off my 18 month old daughter Mary Eve (here pictured) to hang out with me at Church. As it turned out, I went home instead and stayed with both Danny (my son, 3 years old) and Mary Eve. Most of that time they were down for their afternoon naps.

I don't know how Roman priests can stand being single, because I sure think that family life is the way it was meant to be for most men. That may be because my family is really great (am I just a little biased here?). Not every family situation is a happy one, but I am thoroughly blessed. One neat thing that Josephine and the kids do each day is gather at the top of the stairs to greet me when I return home from work, and I get to hug and smooch each of them. They wait for the signal which is the garage door opening, and the sound of my car driving in. : ) Spending our evenings together, as well as some times here-and-there during the day is so nice (even if I have to pencil it into my calendar) because they are usually still asleep when I leave home in the morning.