Easter Rundown

Again, as a disclaimer: this post is just as much for my own memory as it is for your entertainment. Possibly more for my memory.

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Ah, Easter.

I took off on Good Friday directly from work shortly before 11:30 in the morning. I was somewhat relieved that I could take a half day; the drive to Sioux Falls is long and boring and I would be making it completely alone.

It was also, thankfully, quite uneventful. There was a little snow here and there, but nothing compared to what was happening in Chicago at the time. I made it home in almost record time -- it took just over seven hours to get from the parking lot at work to the Sunnycrest parking lot.

Showed up at church around 6:30, where I was meeting up with the rest of my family. The Good Friday service started around 7:00 and was great and very thought-provoking, as expected.

We had a family dinner that night -- steak, potatoes, homemade bread. Oh, how I've missed family dinners.

Saturday started at 6:30 in the morning. I made it to church by 7:15 (in a skirt, no less -- and my beloved Chacos, which earned a few interesting looks since it was snowing at the time), in time to chat with Robin for a bit before taking my turn in the prayer vigil. A quick run past Starbucks followed before I headed back home for breakfast with my parents.

The next chunk of the day was spent baking muffins and mixing up some cinnamon rolls while we watched "Tin Man." We headed in to church late in the afternoon, leaving my brother to work on his sermon for the next morning. Cracked eggs, rolled out cinnamon rolls, got things in order -- and all in record time. We were at the church for about an hour before making a run past the grocery store and heading home.

Naturally, we left a few things behind. Shorty and I made a quick run back while Mom and Mia Sorella started putting pizza together (mmm ... homemade pizza ... gotta love it). It was fun to get a few minutes with the kid so we could actually talk ... Yes. I forget that he's already 17, and one of the most grounded 17-year-olds I've ever known. Crazy.

Anyway, the evening was a short one. Supper, dessert, the end of "Tin Man," and we all tried to crash before too late, knowing what was coming.

Sunday. 4:05AM. My alarm goes off.

I dragged myself out of bed, the first one alive in the house. By 5:15, Mom and Shorty have already headed out the door and Dad, Mia Sorella and I are gathering the rest of our stuff so that we can follow. By 5:35, we were all there and working.

The sunrise service started at 6:30. Shorty gave his sermon (which was quite good, just for the record) and at 7:10 breakfast started.

Miracle #1: The eggs were done. When people showed up. Twenty minutes earlier than expected. This had not happened in the 11 previous years we had done breakfast. As a matter of fact, the eggs were almost always the last thing ready -- ten minutes late. We actually figure in time in the last few minutes to  microwave them. But they were ready this time.

ANYWAY.

I was rolling out cinnamon rolls by this time ... At least six batches that morning. At least 24 cinnamon rolls per batch (in addition to the two batches we made the day before and baked that morning). Which is at least 192 rolls.

Oy.

Breakfast went beautifully. I think Shorty's talk struck a chord -- at least, judging by the donations and all the comments I heard.

In any case, things went off pretty much hitchlessly. We only had two or three high schoolers helping, in addition to Holli Jo and the youth pastor, and as far as I'm concerned that was the perfect mix. (Miracle #2.) We were never overwhelmed by people nor did we have eighteen youth standing around (which almost inevitably leads to a bigger mess than usual). Everybody had a job and stuck with it (serving food, doing dishes, cooking, and, ahem, the "Master Drizzler"). And for that matter, as I mentioned before, we couldn't have asked for better youth. All any of us ever had to do was ask -- ONCE -- and things got done, but there was no shortage of fun and goofing off. Basically my definition of a good group.

After breakfast and cleanup we headed home for dinner (yes, a couple of us were actually hungry -- I've taken to barely eating breakfast on Easter, largely because the constant smell of food seems to be enough ... I think Storm did that for me). I packed up Sophie pretty slowly -- and was then completely overcome by odd stomach cramps.

I still don't know what happened. It makes me sad to think that maybe my body can no longer handle gravy.

In any case, said cramps cleared up in about half an hour and I managed to get my body out the door and on the road.

The drive back was ... quiet. While the quiet was something of a relief after such an people-centric weekend, I wasn't a big fan of being left to my own thoughts.

There have been some interesting things coming up in Ashleyland lately, mostly concerning the direction my life is going. It seems strange to me that it's even possible that I could be in one place for several years ... but then again it would be even stranger to consider leaving. As bad as I am at holding still, I think it would take a seriously spectacular reason to get me out of Wausau right now.

Now, that's great and all, but having seven hours in which to contemplate this? That can drive a girl batty.

At least it kept me awake. Five hours of sleep isn't really enough for a day like Easter. I even pulled off at one rest stop and attempted to take a power nap, but I couldn't shut my brain down sufficiently. A wee tad frustrating.

I made it back in time to get a decent amount of sleep, had I been able to calm myself. Alas, that didn't happen -- and I spent the next three days in a zombie-like state.

Now, a week later, I've mostly recovered. I'm looking forward to a weekend where I can sleep until my body decides it's had enough. Maybe in May ...