Dearest Rachel –
In fairness, I can’t remember if Walt Kelly wrote about the team of Hither, Thither and Yon as a legal firm, or a trio of baseball players whose double-play performance rivaled that of Tinker, Evers and Chance (although from a historical standpoint, the three famous Cubs weren’t really all that great at it, themselves; they just happened to be immortalized by one of the members of the Algonquin Round Table a century ago. That’s just how things “went viral” back then, you know). And ironically, since I was just there last week with Mom, the lawyers’ office is the one place I’m not going to be running to this week.
But I’m definitely going to be doing a lot of running hither, thither and yon this week, myself.
Things already got off to a fast start over the weekend. While I’m not working the booth throughout VBS session for the first time in ages – our location has plenty of volunteers for the position, and the head of production considers this week an ideal low-pressure means to train as many new volunteers as are willing, which is more than reasonable – I’ve been assigned a completely different post over the coming week. I’ll be handing out wristbands to the kids as they get registered, so they know which team they’re a part of; as I understand it, there will be some fourteen teams of kids of varying grades milling about the church.
Before we get on with that, everything had to be set up (which is where and when I took that photo of the wristbands); and before that, I had to show up at our flagship campus for a group briefing on the two Honduras trips scheduled at the end of July and beginning of August. I’ll be on the latter tour of duty, so things aren’t quite as urgent for me to get prepared – that, and this being my third trip in barely a year, there’s a certain sense of knowing what to expect.
I was thrown off, however, when I ran into a fellow who had traveled with Daniel and me to Israel a little less than a year ago; after asking about how Daniel was doing, he inquired as to whether I was ‘excited’ about this trip. Which he would be, himself, since this was his first time, and I probably should have just agreed with him, out of sheer conversational politeness.
But you know me, honey. I tend to tell the truth, whether it’s pretty or not; and as far as these particular tour go, it’s not. It’s not that I mind the trip itself, and I’m actually looking forward to clearing up the situation the team up here has been having trying to make sense of the café’s financial activity, so that’s something. But I have to confess, the main reason I’m supposed to be there – to stand up in front of these kids and teach them (even if it is a subject I know pretty well, like finances) – is something I don’t feel like I’m doing well, but I’m the only one with the knowledge to do it, so I’ve got to. And even as I write that last sentence, it sounds so egotistical, even as I’m questioning my ability in the same breath. So no, I can’t say I’m excited as much as I am resigned to a necessary task. Hopefully, what I manage to do for them can work its way beyond however I might feel about it.
While I would have wanted to stick around after the briefing, and talk with Maddie and the others leading what they call the “vision trips” (as opposed to “mission trips”), I was already over half an hour late to our regular campus to set up the place for the coming week. But as it turned out, I wasn’t so late as to not have an assignment to take care of. The stage needed to be set up with various props to give it a Wild West décor, since that’s this year’s theme.
Of course, that only covers my running about for yesterday; I mentioned that I’m at full speed throughout the entire week, you might point out. Well, there is the fact that I’ll be at church each evening with VBS, but there’s also something else going on (most) every day this week:
– Today, I’m off to the brokerage house twice; this morning with Mom, to ascertain the situation with the portion of Dad’s trusts stored up for her; and this afternoon, to do a semi-annual checkup of my own portfolio.
– Tomorrow, I may not actually be going anywhere – although I might need to be a church for this – but I’ll be meeting online with the staff of the café in Honduras, to see if we can sort out some of the situation before I get down there.
– Wednesday, I definitely have to be at the church headquarters, as we’re making preparations for the annual financial review.
– Thursday, I’m finally getting back to walking with Lars; it’s been nearly three weeks since Daniel and I have gotten back from our trip (not to mention those three weeks we were gone), so there’s a lot of catching up to do.
Granted, Friday ‘only’ has VBS to deal with, and Saturday is back to what can be considered a slow version of normal, with just the morning Bible study, but those are the exceptions that test the rule. Besides, everybody needs a day of rest at some point. For the moment, I’ll be so busy for the next couple of days, I don’t know when I’ll even have a chance to eat.
Good thing I have those pizza leftovers.
On the other hand, Lars would be pleased if I could fast off a few pounds before I see him, so maybe I ought to just keep forgetting those, and let the boys polish those off…
Either way, I’d appreciate it if you’d keep an eye on me, honey, and wish me well. I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 