No Place I'd Rather Be

Hours and hours of work. Almost no sleep. Lots of flower arranging, singing, and "WOW"ing in commemoration of Our Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection.

So much love, both Divine and human.

Anyone who doesn't love spending the Triduum and Easter at Thomas Aquinas College is crazy.

I arrived on Wednesday night. After picking up dinner at In-N-Out, I planned an elaborate way to surprise Shelle, which involved hiding in the "Jesus closet" in the sacristy. Plans changed when I was walking to the chapel and noticed that she was on the volleyball court, with no sign of leaving any time soon. The altered plan simply involved me walking up behind her, crossing my arms, and saying, "Well, you certainly don't look like you need any help." She screamed and came a'runnin'. It was fabulous. I haven't pulled off many surprises on her and this one was pretty epic. Just earlier that day, she was bemoaning my absence in the sacristy over the Triduum to someone... little did either of them know that I was coming to the rescue. :)

Surprising people is fun. One of the best reactions was from Jims, a dear friend of mine. I was talking to someone else, hidden from his line of sight by a bush. A mutual friend saw him and called him over. He resisted, insisting that he had someone else to meet. She told him that he really needed to come over. I popped out from behind the bush and hollered at him that he wouldn't be disappointed if he did. From that distance, he didn't recognize me, so when he came over, he moved slowly. When he had covered about half of the distance between us, he recognized me, shouted my name, and started running. The smile on his face was the best. 

I spent Wednesday night sitting around a table, surrounded by some of my very best friends. People came and went, but it was a constant atmosphere of laughter and fun.

Thursday, the work began. We had to clean, shine, and set up so many things for the Mass. It was crazy busy, but so. much. fun.

Friday was a lighter day. The service required minimum preparations and everyone was more mellow, probably from low blood sugar due to fasting.

Saturday, the sacristan team met at 6:30 am to pick all of the flowers for the arrangements that I would spend all day putting together. We tromped through the bushes in over-sized boots, cutting calla lilies and irises. I'm not really sure how things went inside the sacristy for the rest of the day since I spent all day outside with the flowers. It was worth every second, though. They turned out better than ever.

The Vigil Mass could not have gone smoother. Every event organized and run by human beings is going to have problems, but no major accidents occurred. A young lady was baptized into the Catholic Church, which was the cause of much joy and celebration. In celebration of Christ's Resurrection, we partied til dawn. At dawn, I managed to pull some sort of weird stunt, which ended with a broken toe, a sprained ankle, and a twisted knee. Although painful and unfortunate, Mark, Sean, Aaron, Shelle, and I were able to make the best of it.

 

Four hours of sleep later, I headed into town with friends for a wonderful and delicious Easter dinner. Not only was the food delicious, but everyone was so kind to me in my injured state. The boys put out a great deal of effort to make me comfortable and be immensely helpful. I didn't expect any less from my Godbrother, but I was pleasantly surprised by the care and consideration shown by the gentlemen I had just met.

Singing Easter spirituals

Almost sisters :)

Late in the evening, a group of us "big kids" headed over to another home to watch "Les Mis." It was cozy, enjoyable, and, at times, hilarious (like when Joe's legs landed with a big thump on the floor when he fell asleep during a particularly emotional scene).

I could not imagine a better way to have spent the best week of the year. Everything was perfect.