"She was able not only to cry with those who cry, but also to be merry with those who are merry, which is often harder to do than the first. To find something good in every person was the goal of all her heart." (From the memoirs of Metropolitan Anastasius)Yesterday we celebrated our 10th parish Feast of St Elizabeth the New Martyr. We had a excellent attendance considering it was at 9AM on a Friday—nearly 50 people. The majority of them were actually our members, so we weren’t outnumbered by our guests, which has actually happened before—on more than one embarrassing occasion. We also had several visiting priests: Fr Th, Fr Alx, Fr On, and Fr Mx with a couple of his monks from NY.
After church, the monks came over to our house, along with our sub-deacon & his wife, our choir director & his whole family, and another young man we knew when I worked at Rose Hill College. Needless to say it was crowded in our little den, but it was cozy and enjoyable nonetheless.
I used to groan at having people over. Since we used to have church services in our living room at least 3 days a week for three years, such an attitude might be understandable. Now it has become such a normal thing that I have nearly mastered the art of quick-cleaning, and efficiency shopping, cooking and feeding. It’s to the point now that I am able to have fun and enjoy our company instead of bustling about nervously, checking doorknobs for stickiness and the bathroom for hidden underwear.
At 3:30 the ladies and I left the men with nine children and a big bowl of chips. We were meeting up with Hp & Rt at Harper's restaurant. Rt, her husband, Sv, and daughter, Kr, will be leaving next week for South Korea. He will be teaching at a college there for at least a semester. They hope to come back to the US, but it is uncertain whether we will see them again soon. I am going to miss them.
