201/365 Reset

Waking up, I'm already sick of church. All the laundry is ready to take over and I grab it up and stumble out to the car. I'm in a foul mood--my 4th night in a row of 4 hours of sleep or less. Mike was out of town all week and I fear I'll never catch up. I already have my excuses and defense at the ready, should anyone have anything to say about my laundry duties. It starts with "I didn't ask for this job" and just gets angrier from there.

I walk into church--7:30 mass is sparsely populated--and take this stuff back to the sacristy. Monique is back there in her hat, going over the reading. Monique is a character. A little odd. Many of us are. She has a thing for hats. And she's always giving people hugs. I'm not a hugger. At least not often, and definitely not with people I hardly know. I know Monique from several small things I do at the parish, but she's one of the people I put up the protective coloration for. I don't want to have to try to translate my life. I keep it on the surface with her.

She ignores me as I put purificators in piles and some in a drawer. Glance out to the credence table (I think that's what it's called) and there are already ones in place. Wilma, of course, is really in charge of all this. There are, in fact, plenty of purificators in the drawer. I really could have brought my load up when we came for 10. More words in the back of my head, but I'm done. I turn and smile at Monique.

Who of course, according to strict cliche, puts her arms up to hug me. And I'm not in such a bad mood to tell her to go away. So I hug her. "Everyone needs a hug!" she announces. Maybe so.

After brief pleasantries, I go sit in the second pew. I'll stay for mass, and then go home and try to catch up on sleep. And quit all this grumbling.