Unlonelifying

"Your blog is lonely," a friend texted me.

In the two weeks since I last posted we went to New York City to visit Alex and took Joe back to boarding school (he's a senior! the boy who had just turned 2 when I started blogging!). The two youngest kids go back tomorrow; the 19yo returns to college next weekend. And I just changed my work email signature to say Jamie Most Gladly, Associate Professor.

The thing about not blogging is that it always leaves a person wanting to say everything and nothing all in the same post. So I will tell you about something fairly random, and see if the posting gears mesh more smoothly tomorrow.

We were looking for a vigil Mass in Alex's neighborhood, and we wound up at a Ukrainian Catholic church. Their Facebook page left us with the impression that the liturgy would be in English, but that was a faulty impression. All Ukrainian, every word. It was a gorgeous space, with mosaics and gold leaf and memorable acoustics. Much of the liturgy was chanted, with congregants singing multi-part harmonies. We were pretty much at sea for the whole first half, and then Elwood figured out where we were in the Ukrainian-English book. The post-communion prayers were especially beautiful.

I did not know that they would use leavened bread, and I had only a vague memory that the priest combines the consecrated elements and serves them to communicants from a golden spoon. The texture was a little startling to receive, and it left me wondering what happens to the leftover Jesus Porridge afterward. Anybody out there part of a related rite?

Tomorrow morning is the faculty retreat. (This year "retreat" = 3-hour faculty meeting, which is a big improvement over the usual "retreat," a 6-hour faculty meeting. Normally I would be cautious about work complaints, even mild ones like "a 6-hour faculty meeting is pretty different from an actual retreat," but hey! I am tenured now. What are they going to do if they uncover a blog post asserting that 6 hours is about 5 hours too long for a faculty meeting to last? Fire me? I may even knit a sock during the boring parts.) I am slipping out to meet Elwood for an end-of-summer drink. More soon.