Are We Ready for the Week Ahead?

Next Saturday is the wedding of one of Tom's nieces. This, of course, will mean a big family gathering and much merriment and celebration. In this case, where the family has plenty of resources, it means the sort of celebration that puts me in mind of a week-long festival thrown by a medieval lord upon the wedding of his heir. Golf parties, Bride's luncheon, etcetera. Which is a wonderful thing to be able to do, I think, if one has the time and resources.

Let's add to that the fact that I, personally, have hit my busiest time of year at work, doing layout for the Worthington catalogs. I enjoy this work and working with the clients. (We've been working with them since Kevin began the company and if you need school or church furniture, I can honestly recommend them to you. You will not find more honorable or sincere people anywhere.) However, that doesn't change the fact that most of this work is done within about a 1-1/2 month period, and mostly by me as everyone else has their own projects. I bring work home on the weekends and during the height of the frenzy will be working every night at home on it. I began this last week and the weekend work began on Saturday.

Now, how about that phone call from a brother-in-law asking, "Did Mom tell you that she's staying with y'all for the wedding?"

No, no she didn't.

Not that it is a problem. I absolutely adore my mother-in-law. This is made very easy for me as the feeling is mutual.

However, the state of the guest bedroom ... hmmm, well, it needed to be cleaned up anyway as it had become that well-known repository for anything extra that people didn't want to bother with at the time. Stacks of books, school papers, old binders, and much, much more were cleared away this weekend.

And let's not even go into the state of my kitchen floor or the girls' shower ... those will be dealt with during the early part of this week.

So, I had all that on my mind and when the mass announcements included the reminder that All Saint's Day (THURSDAY) is a Holy Day of Obligation, I suddenly realized ...

• Wednesday: Halloween (note to self: pick up pumpkin before then, carve if time ... if not then wimp out with black Sharpie ... thank goodness I remembered candy already)
• Thursday: Holy Day of Obligation, pick up my MIL from airport, family dinner at the bride's family's house
• Friday: get my MIL to and from Bride's Luncheon, First Friday fast and fasting from meat and the rehearsal dinner (at a Mexican restaurant ... I also adore the groom's parents, did I mention that?)
• Saturday: wedding

Plus being around while my MIL is visiting ... that is not a chore but must be figured into the general mindset. Plus work. Plus Scripture study. Plus the podcast intro and proofing. Plus a couple of other things I promised to people before the insanity hit. Etcetera.

Thank goodness that I can go to the vigil mass on Wednesday for All Saint's Day.

So for the Catholics reading ... the one message to take away from this if nothing else is Thursday is a Holy Day of Obligation.

The second message to take away, for those participating in the First Friday fast ... that's this week, y'all.

Did I mention that I'm thankful for all this?

I definitely am and that is what I must remind myself of when the stress of the schedule starts getting to me.

• I'm thankful for the work
• I'm thankful for the loving family and community which we are part of and will definitely see in action this week
• I'm thankful for the sacrament of marriage and getting to see this couple wed, who seem to me to be meant for each other.
• I'm thankful for the groom's family's witness of their faith ... a blending of Irish (yes, from the Old World with a lovely accent) and Hispanic (again with a lovely accent) Catholics, with 8 children and a strong and abiding devotion to their faith.

Now if I can just remember that thankfulness and not get overwhelmed ... take it step by step. Lord, multiply my time and my focus! Amen.