Lent 25

This afternoon was absolutely crazy. It all started around 1 when one of my roommates and I decided to check out the UMW used book sale at the church. I still needed to take a shower and get dressed (it's Saturday, so sue me) and pack up because I knew that I would be spending the night at the church's shelter. By the time we're ready to head out its about 1:30/45. We consider whether or not it'll be worth it to head out (the busses can be sporadic on the weekends). But I checked the RideOn RealTime website and it said there would be a bus we could take in 9 minutes, so we headed out and walked to the bus stop. 

Of course, the bus never came. So we're kind of just chilling at the bus stop (the next one scheduled to arrive at 2:10). However, we're contemplating whether or not we'll be able to get to the church on time by this point, and my roommate ultimately deciding to head back to the apartment. 

Of course, right after she crosses the street and can no longer safely and quickly return to the bus stop, the bus arrives (because clearly the universe wanted to make life for us miserable today). However, I'm able to get on the bus and transfer relatively quickly to the bus that takes me to the church and I get there with about 30 minutes to browse. I had spent some time scoping out the book sale yesterday, so I had an idea of what I wanted to buy. 

By the time I got there, however, one of the things I really had my eye on, a Bahrenreiter edition of the choral score of Bach's B Minor Mass (we've already established plenty of times on this blog that I am a nerd), had already been bought. That said, because my interests are so niche (see above statement on nerdiness) I was still able to walk away with a good haul (including a 1964 edition of The Joy of Cooking, a manual on how to open a bar/tavern (mostly so I can tell people I bought it from the United Methodist Women's booksale) the original recording of Les Mis on Vinyl, among others). 

At this point it's 3:00. At 5:00, I had to attend a Catholic mass for a class, so I was left with a couple of hours to kill. I decided that I should celebrate the fact that today is Pi Day by having some pie. So I stashed my bag and my haul in the shelter and I then proceeded to see where I could find a good slice of pie without having to travel too far. I found a pie shop in Georgetown on Yelp so I decided to make my way over in that direction. 

I finally made it to Georgetown around 3:45 and to the pie shop around 4:00. But because today just wasn't my day, the pie shop was sold out of pies. So I walked back to the bus stop (it was one of the most disappointing walks of my life) and I make it back to Tenley just barely in time for 5:00 mass. I decided that I would rectify my lack of pie by running to Whole Foods after the service and buying a pie to have with the guys at the shelter. 

So I bought the pie and waited for the shuttle to take me back to the church. When all was said and done, I was back there just before 6:30, which is when I had to be there.

And once I got here, and the dinner showed up and the four residents came in everything was suddenly calm. After a rushed, frantic, and sometimes disappointing afternoon, sharing dinner (and pie) with the guys, chatting with them (I had stayed with them once before and they remembered who I was, which was pretty cool), and watching Dateline with them was just what I needed. 

Today, I saw God in a quiet, relaxing evening with four pretty awesome men.