Saints

I have an ever growing appreciation for all Administrative Assistant does. Yesterday we agreed to do a funeral dinner for the family of a suicide on Saturday. Today I realized we'd already scheduled a shower for that day. Today I realized that I hadn't checked the calendar. When I did, I discovered we'd already booked the church for a shower that day. I went in and talked to the men who were cleaning, measuring, and returning all the chairs in the sanctuary to their proper positions after yesterday evening's dinner. We talked, and decided we'd see about moving either the shower of the funeral dinner upstairs. I went down to talk to the quilters, as the woman who was going to coordinate the meal was there, as well as the woman who had been our contact with the family. They agreed we should try to accommodate both.

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I began trying to reach the woman who had scheduled the shower, but kept getting her voice mail. As the quilters were leaving, one of the women suddenly came in and told me she thought she knew where the woman is on Wednesday-- she volunteers for a local organization. I called, and she was there. They had her call me back. She was ready to move the shower to her home. I assured her that wouldn't be necessary-- we just wanted to know the time and number of guests. They are only expecting 20-25, so she was delighted with the suggestion we move them upstairs to the back of the sanctuary. The small kitchen there will be sufficient for their needs. She kept thanking me. I thanked her for being so flexible and cooperative.

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I went and talked to the men who were at work in the sanctuary. They brought tables back upstairs from the basement and set them up for the shower. Then they went downstairs and set the basement up to accommodate 100 people for the funeral dinner.

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We also discussed the possibility of providing a key and an alarm code to Daughter's program manager. The agency finally decided to remediate the mold problem at the new site, so now they have to secure 4 bids. They are just beginning that process. This is no longer going to be short term, so we're looking at ways to make it easier for everyone. I'm basically tied to the building during the day this week. On days I can't be there, someone else has to be there to open and close for them. If Administrative Assistant or I aren't in the building, they have to have one staff member remain behind in the building when they leave for their activities to let them back in. We decided it was a good idea, and I'm going to talk to the program manager tomorrow (today she was taking her dad to the doctor).

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When the men finally left after spending most of the day at the church, they stopped by my office to announce they were done, and that they were turning off their cell phones for the rest of the day. They will be back to help clean up after the funeral dinner and to finish putting the sanctuary together after the shower. They are giving hours of their time to the church, and I am grateful. When I explained that I would have come in a little later today if I hadn't had to open for the program, one of them said, "You should have called me. I would have come opened the building at 7:30 for them." I pointed out he had been at the building even later than I was last night.

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One of the quilters, a recently state office worker, plans to contact Administrative Assistant next week. She wants some training so that she can come take care of the office when Administrative Assistant is gone. She is coordinating food delivery to families in the congregation struggling with health issues right now among many other responsibilities she has taken on since her retirement.

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Daughter came bouncing upstairs today at the end of her program. She is super cooperative, affectionate, and excited. She wants to have the woman who is coming to stay with her help her clean house so she can surprise me. I will be delighted with anything they accomplish. The house has definitely been neglected the last few weeks. Some of the snow in my backyard has melted, and the flowers that I saw coming up a couple of weeks ago grew while they were covered with snow. Spring is definitely coming, and hopefully soon!