7 Quick Takes Friday #48

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

Sitting here in Linthicum, Maryland, looking back on the past week, I have two adjectives to use: busy (as usual), peaceful (although I traveled, not without incident). A (somewhat) typical week for those times that I spend outside my California office.

1. Friday was such a great day. I took annual leave. After all, it was the day after Thanksgiving, and few people were planning to be at work, anyway. I have recently been in contact with Fr. Terry, who had, until he was reassigned to another city in February, been my de facto spiritual advisor and certainly a good friend and mentor. I missed him and never did find a "replacement." I don't believe that we can ever "replace" people. They are what they are and they are who they are to us. Finally, after the passage of many months, I decided to press some electrons to paper, print out the resultant letter, and mail it. After a couple of backs-and-forths, Fr. Terry offered to come to San Ignatio for lunch. Friday was the day. He celebrated Mass in his new community, and I attended Mass in San Ignatio. After the Masses, we met at my favorite restaurant, Jardines, and had a long and leisurely lunch, for the most part playing catch-up. Fr. Terry has a way of making one feel special, and certainly his willingness to drive two hours (one each way) just for lunch made me feel very special on Friday. Of course, he is very special to me. (I bet he knows that.)

2. The weekend was quiet. I attended Mass on Saturday with Doah and did some chores. That left Sunday to prepare for an upcoming conference, pay bills, and, yes!, stay inside on an unusually cold day. (We don't know what to do in and with cold weather in California). The smallest pleasures in life are sometimes the greatest. For me, it is getting all the little things done: bill paying, phone calls, mail, laundry -- the things that I seem never to have time for until they reach critical mass. That is just what I did on Sunday.

3. Monday flashed by. At work, it was like Sunday had been at home -- catching up the little stuff. That felt good. I was leaving the next day, and I was excited to be able to finish the day with a clean desk. (It is indeed the smallest pleasures in life that are sometimes the greatest.) After work, I drove to the home of the wife of our Bible Studies director who died a couple of weeks ago. She had expressed an interest in coming to our Monday night prayer group, and I did not want to leave her sitting alone if there was something comforting she could do. It took some time and a few wrong turns, even with a GPS, to find her house, but eventually I arrived -- only to find out that her grandson was supposed to have brought her a dinner and had not done so yet. She was hungry and wanted to wait for him. A wasted trip? Perhaps. Nonetheless, I would rather be the one making the useless trip than the one in need of assistance.

4. Tuesday was a half-&-half day. In the morning, I attended no less than three meetings, fortunately, all by being tied in telephonically to my conference room. What a marvel to live in a technological age. I packed and printed out my ticket while I talked. Then, Donnie drove me to San Francisco where I caught a non-stop flight to the Baltimore-Washington airport. Piece of cake, or so it seemed. I had already printed my ticket, checked my baggage curbside, and made it quickly through the 1K United line inside. The flight was easy; I sat beside a chatty computer scientist about Shane's age and interested in the same things as Shane. Piece of cake, or so it seemed. The plane arrived early, and I called my employee who was meeting me to tell him that I would just grab my suitcase and we could speed off to the hotel. Still a piece of cake, or so I thought. Everything was too smooth, though, so there had to be a glitch. There was. No suitcase. Having been through this scenario before, I made my claim and went to the hotel to await the delivery of my suitcase. No suitcase. My suitcase made its own trip; it went to Chicago. You can read its story here: the errant suitcase. My sister asked if, since my suitcase takes trips all by itself (this is not the first time), might United give it frequent flyer miles. Dunno. Good question to ask.

5. Wednesday was a nondescript day. It was cold outside, but I had a warm coat. I worked all day at various tasks together with the local office director. My suitcase arrived, and I had a very leisurely (unplanned so) lunch with the office director -- for hours. Literally. I learned a good lesson over lunch: if the restaurant is totally empty at noon, there is probably a reason for it. Moe's Seafood sounded like a good place to eat. The tables looked nice. The menu looked even better. The waitress was sweet. So, we thought we would grab something quick and be back for a 1:00 meeting. The waitress took our order and returned 30 minutes later with some bread. Another 30 minutes passed, and then our meal arrived. By the time we finished, we were not late for the 1:00 meeting; we completely missed it.

6. Wednesday evening was much better. I had dinner with my administrative assistant from the time days when I worked in Jordan. She was visiting relatives in the USA as she does every December, and we had our annual dinner together. Since I attend a December conference every year in the Linthicum, Maryland area, our dinner has turned into a tradition. We went to a safe bet: Ruby Tuesday. We talked about family and acquaintances, Jordan and Bahrain (where she now lives and where I also used to work), and a dozen more things. Much happens in a year -- except that we do not change (or, at least, we think we do not. Even better, when I returned to the hotel after dinner, there was my suitcase. We had a joyful reunion. Just think! Two reunions in one day.

7. Thursday I was "on" to review our local programs. I have never seen our office director (who is new to this particular position but whom I have known in other positions for a long time) so nervous. Everything was perfect, starting with the bagels and juice that had been set up for everyone. The review went smoothly: the director and assistant director were well prepared, and the work is clearly being done well. I was pleased. They were pleased. The day ended, and I headed to dinner with another Jordanian, this one a friend and member of the Board of Directors for the conference that would take place the next day. After dinner, I stopped by the airport to pick up a friend who would be participating on my panel at the conference on Saturday -- yet another Jordan. The week for Jordan!

And now it is nearly bedtime, and I have to get my beauty rest so that I can moderate the panel well tomorrow morning at the conference, before heading home. Oh, yeah, gotta pack, too! I hope you all have a great weekend -- relaxing, good weather, and whatever else you might want.