(or - I Think I Might Be On Vacation)
Tonight as I arrived at the Motel and started unloading supplies, a woman came down the path from the front and introduced herself to C.L. and me. She was the vanguard of a group from the Anglican church in town who will be taking on Dinner once a month in the future. They'd taken the initiative to drive over and check out the place. It was really cool to meet them all, and we spent 20 minutes or so talking about what happens and who needs to do what. There were about ten people in the group.
While we were talking, several cars pulled in the parking lot and people started getting out, carrying large pans that contained a ham and scalloped potato dinner, complete with salad, fresh fruit and dessert. These half dozen were the group from the Evangelical Missionary church who had adopted this week as their gift to us. So the Anglicans (whose turn is in two weeks) watched the EMC group set up and get organized. Cool.
Then a few regulars came and with one of them came some women from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a Catholic charity group, who are going to be pitching in the week after the Anglicans. They've come alongside after a couple of our team members visited the group and explained who we are and what we do. They must have done a good job, because we've got a bunch of new helpers and encouragers out of it.
So there was this huge crowd hanging around and chatting and asking each other questions and wondering who was in charge and it was so awesome.
Just before serving time, the Anglican group excused themselves and we said goodbye for now and Dinner got under way, under the tender care of our guinea pig team of guest volunteers.
I was nervous about how it would go. My greatest fear was that I'd got something wrong and nobody would bring any food, 'cause I'd mistakenly given them the wrong date. My second greatest fear is the perennial "What if we run out?" Third would be what if the guest cooks and the diners didn't get along somehow. Not sure how, exactly. It's a bit blurry, but since when has that stopped us worrying about stuff?
None of that happened. Brenda and her team did an awesome job and left nothing to be desired. If I'd won more hands of Crazy 8's than I'd lost, it would have been a perfect evening.
Very Cool Things:
- M&M walking in carrying a wonderful pot of homemade beef stew with turnips and carrots. She'd finally got a hot plate, so she was able to cook something and bring it along. It was delicious.
- The whole crowd standing at their tables, mid meal, to sing along with two beautiful young sisters who just wanted to sing O Canada. They led, we sang along and it was spontaneous and bright.
- We solved the whole mission to Mars thing. You set up the ship with a potato farm and several rabbits. The potato plants produce oxygen, you eat the potatoes, the rabbits eat the greens, you compost what comes out and grow some more potatoes. Then you eat some rabbits and make fur coats because Mars is cold. NASA, call me.
Next week will be the first one in a very very very long time I won't be there for Dinner. Not sure where I will be, just not there. I won't be there Sunday for church, either. It's weird. Somebody told me tonight that I'd be sadly missed. That meant a lot.
A couple of years ago there were so few of us working together on this that taking a week off just wasn't an option. Now - holy cow, who the heck are all these people? Wow!
I guess the bottom line is that there are an awful lot of good people out there who want to help, want to do something for someone else, want to make the world a better place, someone's life a little easier, but they just don't know where to start. So if I've accomplished anything in all this, it's just opening a door and holding it open long enough for others to come through after me.
Seems to be what I do. Kind of a recurring theme. I'm - not a catalyst, exactly, but something like that. And now I can take time off and know that it's in good hands. Better than mine, maybe. More organized, certainly, and at least as caring and passionate.
So, roll on whatever's next!
r
Tonight as I arrived at the Motel and started unloading supplies, a woman came down the path from the front and introduced herself to C.L. and me. She was the vanguard of a group from the Anglican church in town who will be taking on Dinner once a month in the future. They'd taken the initiative to drive over and check out the place. It was really cool to meet them all, and we spent 20 minutes or so talking about what happens and who needs to do what. There were about ten people in the group.
While we were talking, several cars pulled in the parking lot and people started getting out, carrying large pans that contained a ham and scalloped potato dinner, complete with salad, fresh fruit and dessert. These half dozen were the group from the Evangelical Missionary church who had adopted this week as their gift to us. So the Anglicans (whose turn is in two weeks) watched the EMC group set up and get organized. Cool.
Then a few regulars came and with one of them came some women from the St. Vincent de Paul Society, a Catholic charity group, who are going to be pitching in the week after the Anglicans. They've come alongside after a couple of our team members visited the group and explained who we are and what we do. They must have done a good job, because we've got a bunch of new helpers and encouragers out of it.
So there was this huge crowd hanging around and chatting and asking each other questions and wondering who was in charge and it was so awesome.
Just before serving time, the Anglican group excused themselves and we said goodbye for now and Dinner got under way, under the tender care of our guinea pig team of guest volunteers.
I was nervous about how it would go. My greatest fear was that I'd got something wrong and nobody would bring any food, 'cause I'd mistakenly given them the wrong date. My second greatest fear is the perennial "What if we run out?" Third would be what if the guest cooks and the diners didn't get along somehow. Not sure how, exactly. It's a bit blurry, but since when has that stopped us worrying about stuff?
None of that happened. Brenda and her team did an awesome job and left nothing to be desired. If I'd won more hands of Crazy 8's than I'd lost, it would have been a perfect evening.
Very Cool Things:
- M&M walking in carrying a wonderful pot of homemade beef stew with turnips and carrots. She'd finally got a hot plate, so she was able to cook something and bring it along. It was delicious.
- The whole crowd standing at their tables, mid meal, to sing along with two beautiful young sisters who just wanted to sing O Canada. They led, we sang along and it was spontaneous and bright.
- We solved the whole mission to Mars thing. You set up the ship with a potato farm and several rabbits. The potato plants produce oxygen, you eat the potatoes, the rabbits eat the greens, you compost what comes out and grow some more potatoes. Then you eat some rabbits and make fur coats because Mars is cold. NASA, call me.
Next week will be the first one in a very very very long time I won't be there for Dinner. Not sure where I will be, just not there. I won't be there Sunday for church, either. It's weird. Somebody told me tonight that I'd be sadly missed. That meant a lot.
A couple of years ago there were so few of us working together on this that taking a week off just wasn't an option. Now - holy cow, who the heck are all these people? Wow!
I guess the bottom line is that there are an awful lot of good people out there who want to help, want to do something for someone else, want to make the world a better place, someone's life a little easier, but they just don't know where to start. So if I've accomplished anything in all this, it's just opening a door and holding it open long enough for others to come through after me.
Seems to be what I do. Kind of a recurring theme. I'm - not a catalyst, exactly, but something like that. And now I can take time off and know that it's in good hands. Better than mine, maybe. More organized, certainly, and at least as caring and passionate.
So, roll on whatever's next!
r
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