Reverend Ref +

I AM SOOOO TIRED

You may remember that I had a nice little visit with a member of the Gideons a few weeks ago. During that conversation, I invited him to speak at both parishes on May 1. It turns out that that was a really good decision on my part.

This week has involved several play practices, two softball practices, and a deanery clericus over in Bozeman. Not having to write a sermon has been a good thing.

Today was the clericus. Bozeman is about 1-1/2 hours from home. Not a bad drive really, especially in nice weather. I stopped in Whitehall (still haven't figured out if that is "up" or "down," so I just say Whitehall) to fill up the tank and purchase a Subway sandwich for lunch. I arrived in Bozeman in time to stop at Costco and drop off film for Mrs. Ref, then it was onto the meeting.

Wow -- we have a lot of diocesan power (or maybe I should say "input") in that group. Three members of our clericus are on the General Board of Examining Chaplains for the diocese (Montana doesn't use the GOE's); two members are part of the Youth Commission; one member is on the Standing Committee; and one member, me, is on the Commission on Mission Planning. We spent most of the meeting filling each other in on what our various committees are up to.

After that, we discussed our summer "getaway" meeting, which will be held in VC this year, mainly because VC is a fun place to be, as well as the fact that there's actually a priest there now, me again. So I need to put together a little info pack on stuff we can do as a group there. Should be a fun time.

From there, I was off to a seminar on Alcohol Awareness and learning about some early intervention. This isn't major stuff, as in "lock the doors, get the family and friends and dog and straighten this person out." It's more like consistently talking about alcohol abuse and be on the lookout for possible ways to get the person to realize they might have a problem. Very CPE-like. Anyway, I did that for a couple of hours.

After that, I stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up a six-shooter capgun set for the play. Then it was over to Costco to pick up the photos I had dropped off earlier in the day, and then home. I arrived home at 5:15; just in time to change and head over to the baseball field for practice. Practice ran late -- we worked on hitting. That was interesting. Several girls who had never swung a bat before, standing in the batter's box, having (real) softballs (real, as in, they don't hurt when they slam into your head) fired at them from the pitching machine. They did well -- I was impressed. And after adjusting to the speed of the ball, most of them managed to connect several times.

Then it was off to play practice. Act II. Um, can I just say that I will have all my lines down by the time dress rehearsal gets here. Home by 9:15. Tucked The Kid into bed about 9:30. Checked e-mail and here I am.

I am soooo tired. Tomorrow's Friday. Tomorrow's my day off. Tomorrow I plan to concentrate on my breathing. As in, "relax, slow down, enjoy yourself."

Tonight, with any luck, I will sleep hard and have one of those nights where minutes seem like hours. Tonight, with any luck, I will have dreams of flowing rivers and the crashing of ocean waves (two things I find enjoyable and I hold onto those thoughts whenever I'm stressed and need release). Tonight -- I need to quit typing. G'night.

Peace