Yes, I feel ashamed of myself for doubting. No, more for wearing undo stress over things which are outside of my management or control. Janet B. was right to say, "STOP IT! Quit stressing!!!", in her imitable style. That was just what I needed. To sum it up, before I relate the entire day's events, there was more than enough food, more than enough help with the take-down and clean-up, and plenty of time to rest in the pool. By the way, it is NOT a good idea to report loudly that you are there to relieve yourself while in the pool. Boy, they are so quick with that yellow caution tape around the pool area.......I really did say that, but quickly corrected my choice of words!
Janet B---this photo taken in my dining room
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Saturday's set-up went well, with two men doing the heavy lifting and two ladies doing the vacuuming and chair placement. The floor, littered after VBS with schnibbles and cruddlies, needed to cleaned up before the tables were placed. I think I covered the set-up sufficiently in my Saturday posting. On Sunday I stopped at Publix on the way to church to pick up my fruit tray which weighed 100 pounds plus a container each of potato salad and macaroni salad. Judy C., my BFF, was concerned that there would not be enough side dishes, but boy, was she wrong! I brought my cookies home, as well as most of the 2 containers. My potato chips were the only ones there so they nearly were wiped out. Glad I thought to pick those up! I was prepared to give the guys money to run to the store if we needed more meat for cooking but it turned out they did not even cook up all the purchased hot dogs or burgers.
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With sending out all those invitations and the other promotions for the anniversary of the preschool, I fully expected to have a churchful of folks, or at least, a full fellowship hall. Not so much....My guess is that about a half dozen non-member families came, and not all of them for lunch. Disappointing? Yes! But, as my friend, Ellen, pointed out to me later at the pool, the ones who needed to be there were there! After a certain point, no, right from the beginning of the plans being made, this was not my control, but the Lord's. Those who were in attendance for the lovely worship service and fantastic meal were blessed to be there, and I am rejoicing over it!
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Of course, being the close of VBS as well as the anniversary, the kids sang two songs, one from their VBS week and one hymn, "I Am Jesus' Little Lamb", the latter being one from Timmy's funeral. Gulp! Suzanne was their director (as well as playing viola pre-service, setting up the games, and bringing pasta salad...she was supposed to count the offering, too, but that didn't happen!). She wore her bumble bee antennas as she directed the kids. Pastor had told me that he strongly encouraged the non-member VBS children to come and sing but not one did. The alumni of the preschool were invited to come forward to sing the hymn but none of them did either. Brett L. said he would have if other kids his age went up. He was in the class after Timmy's, and none of the first class students were there. We did have some empty seats in the fellowship hall for the meal which means fewer than 100 dined with us.
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The highlight of the service, of the day, for me was unrelated to the anniversary, however. One of our charter members, Evelyn Rubbert, came to church after being away, shut in, for nearly a year!!! And she looked like a million bucks!!! Every hair in place and dressed so nicely. I have a picture of her I will post when I unload my camera later on. She is the epitome of a come-back-kid....and it was just so wonderful to see her again. Fran Kelley made the effort to go and pick her up, while also dealing with her failing husband.
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The closing hymn was "Go, My Children, With My Blessing", another of the funeral hymns, chosen for that very special reason. I knew it was coming and helped Evelyn find the page, keeping my hymnal in my lap. About partway through the first stanza, my friend, Carol, showed up, sitting in the pew in front of me. (Here come the tears again.....) She reached back and I squeezed her hand in acknowledgement and thanks. After church, since she was not staying for the luncheon, she gave me a hug and then said, "I couldn't leave you sitting there like that...." I know, Carol, I know....I love my friends! There is nothing like dear, Christian friends, you know? After the service, Pastor gave me a hug and said he tried not to look at me during the service because a couple times HE was getting choked up!
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A related thought: Judy C., at my request, ordered a bouquet of flowers for this special service and after all the mess was cleaned up, I took them to the cemetery. It had been a while since I was there and the little fence had come up from around the tree which was donated by Carol and family in Timmy's memory. The fence got stuck back into the soil, and the flowers placed in the vase. I took a single flower, as is our tradition, now only my tradition, to place on the marker of Carol's son's grave nearby. For nearly ten years we have done this, imagine that....
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We had such a great crew help with the take down, people hustling about with tables and chairs and vacuuming and hauling trash and carrying dishes....Jayne's new family has some big boys in it and they picked up the tables as though they were made of cardboard. It made me laugh to see how easily they could carry a table, could probably run a decent foot race carrying a table in each hand! Ladies were busy in the kitchen, washing the dishes left behind and such. Before the meal, a team of ladies, lead by Janet, got all the foods onto the buffet before Judy C. even was out of church! (Remind me again why I was so concerned???) By about 1:30, the whole event was over. Judy and I were in the kitchen wrapping up and I said, "Wanna come over and float around in my pool the rest of the day?" and she said, "That sounds like a great idea!", so she did! After my cemetery stop and getting my clothes changed, I headed out and was in the water right after 2:00 pm! Judy got there about 15-20 minutes after me. She met several of my friends and enjoyed 'relieving herself' in my pool. Judy did not stay out there, though, until after 6:00 pm like I did as she had things to do at home. She goes to bed early because she gets up at 5:00 a.m. to be at Suzanne's before they leave for work. It's about a 25 minute ride each way for Judy, much longer, of course, for those going to work or to their jobsite for the day. Danny, the cabana boy, served me my drinks while I was in the pool and life was good along the river for a Sunday afternoon.
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To God be the glory, great things He hath done!
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