All in a Day's Work

 It is July of 2018. After years, about six, I have pulled my blog back up. There's entry I need to write and so I need to make my way around the blog again. But I found this entry below - it was a draft from Scott's seminary years, and had not been published. So here it is.

I have not yet commented on Scott's 11-week intense chaplain internship at all, really. But as this summer winds down for him at a local nursing home, today's work must be told.

Background: CPE. Clinical Pastoral Education is an intensive experience where students work as chaplains, while delving into their own personal issues, which affect their ministry. This year, 15 slots for CPE were offered, five of which were at a local, Lutheran Home. This home offers a variety of levels of care. It's actually a neat idea, as there are regular homes on the campus, which a family could purchase and live there totally independently, but as their care needs changed, they would move out of the home, and into a different facility on the grounds. The student chaplains offer Wednesday services, four Sunday services, visitation -- parallel to their own work of papers, group work (basically, group therapy), individuals, verbatims (where they write up a specific visitation word for word, and then present it in group time or individually with the supervisor.

This level of involvement for 11 weeks is actually quite the contrast to the way The Mimi describes it: "how hard can it be? You're just walking around visiting people."

Although Scott has told many, many CPE stories, confidentially of course (not to reveal names or incriminating identifiers), today's was a flat out hoot.

Today was a Sunday in which Scott was giving the sermon for four services: 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, and 2:30 pm. The final service, at 2:30 pm, was a bit more brief and informal, as it was for the Memory Unit (dementia, Alzheimers)........Scott has slipped up a few times and totally by accident called it the Mental Unit.

As they gather for the service, Scott notices a man with a long, white, flowing robe, but it buttons up the front. It/he are indeed unusual. Scott asks if he is a regular, but no, he's new. Which could truly mean anything.

One of the residents usually plays the piano, but today, she was nowhere to be found, so someone went off to find her, and she agreed to play. She asked that he not give her anything complicated to play, but Scott said they'd sing "Jesus Loves Me," "Amazing Grace," and the Doxology. One of Scott's fellow chaplains asked if they should run through the music, and the pianist/resident agreed, so when she started playing Jesus Loves Me, everyone joined in, and she played all verses. Oh well, so much for using that during the service.

The service starts, and out of the corner of Scott's eye, he sees some kind of action going on, but he plows through........(the pianist and one of the other residents do not get along, and at some point as the pianist was about to play, the resident approaches her and she stops and kind of yells at her to "get out of there, go back to your room." Again, a fellow chaplain is able to escort the encroaching resident, and she then sits through the rest of the service). Whew.

When it came time for "Jesus Loves Me," Scott skips it, since everyone had already sung it, and he senses it needs to be sung again.....and I'm unclear here, if they do or don't. Mostly because I know the end of the story, which tickled me so much, I forgot some of the beginning.

Well, it's time for the Doxology, which the pianist knew, and started to play....and then, the music of the doxology somehow transforms into "O Come All Ye Faithful" and all of the residents start singing that! Loud and strong, "O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye O come ye to Bethlehem."

What a riot!

Off to a good start

If you didn't read my last blog entry, then starting this new year off well may not seem like a big deal. But to me, it is. I even followed by gal pal Ali's advice and did not wash clothes on New Year's Eve, nor New Year's Day. No ma'am, I am not taking my chances.... Our first day of the new year had all three of us in different places: Kate hung out with friends in Wagener, Scott stayed home and studied, and I headed to Columbia for a yoga workshop and lunch out. At first I thought we should buckle down, and all be together. But being together doesn't mean a literal physical closeness. Of course I thought about Kate and Scott during my practice and if I can start off the year well, it benefits us all. We were fortunate to spend much time together at Christmas. My birthday follows the new year closely. It's not a great time of the year, and it seems something always happens (for two years, Mom was in the hospital on my birthday, so the nurses station benefitted from my cake). This year was no exception, and and despite a bump in the road with Mom's care ON my birthday, it was a nice day: breakfast at the office, took Mom to a successful eye doctor visit, and later dinner with Scott and Kate at Takosushi, where she ate up my edamame. Last night we had wonderfully unexpected visitors: Thomas Scott and Kristen Little were making their way to Atlanta from Columbia, turned off the interstate and joined us for a quick dinner. Such a joy to share our home with the loveliest of folks. And today we loved having the West Family and Keefer Family come to church at Swansea followed by lunch afterwards at our favorite Mexican place, Pedro's. It was their first time seeing Scott in the pulpit, and he received positive reviews :) And....they brought a birthday cake that we shared. At the end of Scott's sermon, which was reminding us of baptism -- what it means, that it is indeed about what God does in extending his hand to us, making us his children, we were invited to come by the baptismal font and dip our fingers into the water, and also come to the kneeling rail. My prayer was obvious to me: peace and happiness in the new year. But God's gentle reminder to me, unexpectedly, was that it's not just about me. It may be about me extending peace and happiness to others.

The month it started to fall apart

I finally pulled up my blog. Finally. I do so with a bit of dread, knowing it had been quite a while since I had written. But March? Really? April 2011 was the month life fell apart at the seams. The good news is, we are stitching it back together now, and looking forward to 2012. So what happened? Sometimes, I cannot really remember everything, but I need to tell my story as writing is therapeutic for me. Here goes......in April we found out we would be moving. We could not tell anyone for a long while, but plans had to be made so we were given several months notice. We knew we would probably move, but until we found out where, details remained on hold. I started packing boxes. We told Mom, and my brother and sister in law came for a visit, moral support, and brief chatting over logistics for Mom. It was those logistics that were propelling me into a level of stress I did not really recognize until I had a panic attack on the interstate. I was able to pull over once, get back on 126, and get off at the Piney Grove exit to retrieve Kate from gymnastics. But I could not make the left turn onto the road, pulled over into a gas station parking lot, cried and called Scott and Sheri. I thought I was having a heart attack. I had no idea what was happening. After being rescued by Sheri, and then by Scott at her house, a visit to the doctor, and a halter monitor for a few days, my diagnosis of anxiety and panic were clear. I took half a pill each time I needed it, but with the stress seemingly short term, I opted for counseling instead of a daily regime of an anti-anxiety medication. And it has worked. I have my emergency meds, but have not taken one in months. This week in April, the week of the attack, ended with Easter, but my Mom's sister (my Aunt Mai) died that day, thrusting my Mom into a hard, hard visit to Tennessee. My brother Mike took her and helped care for her there. It was also the week they had horrendous storms in TN, with trees falling down in my Aunt Johnnie's yard, they lost power, and Mike got a generator from his work to keep Mom's oxygen going. Even from a distance, I absorbed more stress. The week of the panic attack is also the week I was awarded the University's Freshman Advocate award. Kate joined me on the Horseshoe, but the stress and sadness of the weak dissipated the joy I had anticipated. This was also the week of mine and Scott's 10th anniversary, and I probably could not have appreciated him any more than I did during this time, this month. He was a complete rock for me in a month of feeling completed uprooted. In May, my brother Mike visited again and Mom's TV broke. But Scott graduated in May and we treated family out to lunch to celebrate. That same weekend we traveled to Plains, GA with several families to see Jimmy Carter and although a short trip, it was a light in the dark. Also this month, my cousin Laura visited, Mom went to the ER and somehow May ended pretty well, alongside the constant packing, and planning for Mom's care with our upcoming departure from Columbia, to Wagener, SC. It was also during this time my computer at home crashed, and I lost everything on it: from addresses to my yoga history. I tried to have files recovered, but with only a few useless documents found, I coped by simply ordering a new one. On June 2, while I was at a professional meeting, Mom returned to the ER, but this time she was admitted for pneumonia due to aspiration. Only gone for less then 24 hours, I came back, Mike also came, and we checked on Mom and at one point, we had to discuss a feeding tube with the doctor because Mom's inability to swallow well meant that she's likely to aspirate again, but she agreed to a very soft diet. Two days later, we celebrated Kate's 7th birthday amidst the total chaos, and after a week, Mom headed to rehab at Wildewood Downs after I visited three facilities in less then 2 hours. Two days after moving Mom to rehab, Kate and I took one day off to see Scott's United Methodist Church commissioning in Florence, SC. It was a lovely service, and we could not have been more proud. With graduation and commissioning complete, life chugged along. The next week, my car died in Trenholm Plaza and at the same time, Kate had a fever and was diagnosed with strep. Same day. And the next day, we had a yard sale. And the next day was Father's Day, and then Kate was sick again that next week and I joined her too with a sinus infection: the next night we had our bon voyage dinner at Mt. Dearborn UMC, and a second yard sale the day after that. And then four days later, we moved. There were moments Scott and I would look at each other and say, "how is this all going to work out?" Me, wanting to control it all and grasp too tightly, had to learn to let go a great deal and let God work it out. The good news included Mom's 8 weeks in rehab overlapped our big time packing which would have been hard for her to both see and endure (the dust and boxes would have been awful for her breathing, as it already was for ours!). We had a great deal of help moving, especially moving day on June 29, with Scott's sister and mother helping to pack cars and unload boxes. The welcome from both churches enabled us to unpack without cooking one meal. And during this first month of being away from Columbia, Mom was in rehab, being cared for, which lessened our worry so much. In early August, with a great deal of stress of his own, my brother Mike moved in with Mom to take care of her. He is doing much better than I ever dreamed he would, and it has kept her out of assisted living for the time being. And, it has given me back my freedom, my small tiny family, and much of my sanity. Looking back, I cannot believe we made it through to this point, and have enjoyed six months in a new home, out in the country, with two precious congregations to care for, and who care for us. The panick attacks are gone as I started a regular meditation practice, alongside my yoga practice. At times, I feel it creep into my belly, mostly as I drive on the interstate and feel a bit vulnerable, but I've been able to breath them away.....the only other bump in the road was the realization in late October that I was losing my hair, most likely a delayed reaction to the stress of the previous months. But my bad ass hairstylist, Kelly Odom at Urban Nirvana, gave me a new do, and confirmed some new growth :) I pray 2012 teaches me more, wonderful lessons, but at a slower, less stressful pace. These three months were among the hardest, yet as I sit here, I realize that it was a full, three months. Three being my favorite number. We celebrate in threes, we challenged in threes. Here's hoping for more peace to our little family of three. And for you too. Peace and love.

I've got to plug Kmart.

Being an official frugal shopper, I must put in a plug for the KMart (Landsend) Shop your way rewards card (hereby acronymed SYRW). GET ONE. I get all of these rewards cards and use them without fail. But my Kmart card really paid off tonight. When you shop KMart, Landsend or other listed store, you earn points which translate into dollars. Last time I was at Kmart, they told me I had $10 plus credit, and I said I'd use it next time. Well tonight, LandsEnd.com was running a fantastic sale on one of their classic totes. I realized I could register my SYWR card with my Landsends.com account. The totes are on sale tonight only for $20, and using a promo + code, free shipping. I got a monogram too, so overall $25. But I then applied my rewards of $10.56, and paid a tiny bit over $15 for what would've cost $35 plus shipping on any regular day. I was delighted! So all of that swiping and keeping a key chain full of plastic may not be a bad idea, if you don't mind your shopping habits being tracked through these companies' crazy systems. Just my .02 for the week.

It's only Tuesday?

It has already been a long tiring week....but it's only Tuesday. Last night I was blessed with the chance to interview with a committee for the Freshman Advocate Award. This is my third nomination in 13 years. It's an honor and a delight to be nominated, to be a finalist, but the interviewing part often makes me jittery. Said jitteryness was not allayed by the monsoon storm in full swing after myinterview. Couple that with closing up a national fellowship deadline today and it should legimately be Friday tomorrow. On the up side, I did purchase Glad kitchen trash bags at Rite Aid for a little over $2. And I used my Chickfila calendar coupon yesterday morning before it expired, again, another good solid coupon success. And I've gotten to work on time two days in a row. And finally, I had a $5 Gymboree rewards coupon that I used to buy a skirt for Kate which was on sale for $10. Okay, that's it. Enough moaning over my schedule and bragging about my frugal efforts. As I have felt the stress swirl around my inner body, I have tried to breathe it away. Pair that with quiet times two days in a row, and today I felt a small hope and a distinct peace, two aspects of health that have felt elusive lately. There is light....especially when you love Justin Bieber and today is his birthday :) Peace out.

The end of a week

This has been a busy week! Meeting with First Year Scholars is such a joy, and I have met with several this week. I'm at 13 of 45 thus far with a few appointments on my book. Some of the conversations have been so insightful -- how they came to choose the University over the many other schools they gained acceptance to, many prestigious institutions. I think our students make wise choices to attend college here. The cost of an education is quite expensive, and the attention and resources they receive at USC is exceptional. Okay, perhaps I am a bit biased, as both a two-degree alumni and employee here. In a couple of weeks, high school seniors will come and interview for our scholarship programs. The current scholar peeps are eager to share their experiences -- now that is fun to see. In other news, we had a scholar social yesterday, and made 55 Valentine Cards for hospitalized children. I loved seeing everyone express their creativity, enjoying each other, and take time out from very busy schedules to sit down and create with their hands. It's fun to be old school sometimes. Photos below.

Failures and Successes. All in a week.

This week has been interesting for my free stuff. First, I marched into Bruegger's yesterday for a free bagel thin and cream cheese, when I realized the coupon was for Einstein Bagels. Like I said on FB, epic fail. But this did not deter me from marching in there today at 1 pm to get my free 3 bagels in honor of the store's birthday! Also on Monday, a coworker put a Chickfila postcard in my box with three freebies on it. Score. And tonight I took Kate to EdVenture's $1 night.....again, a nice success for tiring her out on a weeknight. On my CVS run at lunch, I entered with $13 in extra care bucks and left paying $3.12 for 4 Vitamin waters, deodorant, Valentine's candy, a card and candy for Scott, gum, ..... a great way to spend my ECB that would expire on Monday. And finally, for supper, I indulged in Chickfila on Decker's Tuesday night B1G1 chicken salad sandwich, which delighted The Mimi! Now I'm off to look at my checkbook which tells me that the 15th is still a few too many days away. Peace.