A Healer’s Geste

Whirlwind Social Weekend

We had a weekend crammed with social events. But not just any social events: social events we hosted. It is now Friday, and I believe I have recovered mentally, but there are two loads of laundry going that still must be dealt with.

Thursday of last week was Matt’s birthday. Because Thursday is already a busy day for me, we only had dinner (grilled steak) and wine at home. Friday was Matt’s mystery theatre, which included dinner. So Friday morning I pre-prepared the food and put it all in the fridge to bake at the appointed times, then I spent Friday afternoon thoroughly cleaning the house. It was really a good day, although I needed every minute that I had. The house, the food, and myself were all ready in the perfect nick of time. Of course, none of that would have gone as smoothly if Grandma had not stopped by and taken Hans to run errands with her after naptime, then came and held Jaeger while I showered and dressed.

Saturday evening was our night for hosting Graceful Dinner, a church-organized program which is a mix of dinner party and potluck, and what the pastor calls “enforced hospitality.” We had Barb & Austin, another youngish couple, and an older couple in our group this month — it was a perfect mix. Since I only had to make the main dish and chill the wine, and the house was still mostly clean from the previous evening, it wasn’t that big a deal. I spent the morning cooking (or prepping, really) again, and finished and stuck into the fridge all the food for the following day’s after-church birthday brunch. I spent the mid-afternoon cleaning up that mess. Grandma came again after naptime, for our arrangment for this event was for Hans to go spend the night at grandparents’ and stick Jaeger into his own bed early (6:30, when the guests began arriving). This worked beautifully and we had a pleasant dinner.

Sunday after church we had the whole gaggle of family over after church for a brunch for Matt’s birthday — 21 people in all, in our 1220-square-foot house, and it was not nice enough for anyone to be outside. But we managed the space and had a good time nonetheless.

So Friday night lying in bed I was anxious and stressing over the next two days, but during those two days I felt great! I didn’t have a drop of stress and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The only glitch was that I forgot that since my pregnancy with Jaeger, orange juice gives me a horrible stomach ache…and I drank some at the brunch and so had to deal with stomach acid galore while visiting and hostessing; it was relieved as soon as I ate some dinner, though. Then Monday came and I had retroactive stress. We had a whole week of nothing, still a relatively clean house, and nothing but the normal housework and lesson-planning. But I felt completely overwhelmed; every item out of place looked like a monumental task. I was tired and cranky and I’ve had difficulty snapping out of it all week long.

Still, I would do it over again. We like having people over for food and games, and have resolved to do it more frequently. In fact, we are having friends over for dinner tomorrow and will go to a friends’ house after church on Sunday. So, I need to learn how to take a lesson from Hans’ book, from my own parenting book, from my own childhood lessons. A bad attitude is an offense a child is expected to repent of and put off, not wallow in. No one is around to spank me anymore, and I have the harder responsibility of turning myself into the Law and submitting to it.

For fun, here is the list of all the things I prepared for this past weekend:

1. breadsticks

2. wheat soda bread

3. herbed chicken breasts

4. sweet onions stuffed with peas & mushrooms

5. peach pie

6. beef stew

8. oven omelet (I used a total of 25 eggs)

9. 3 batches of cinnamon rolls (which turned out sub-par, but still decent)

10. molasses, wheat, & nut quick-bread

11. bacon

12. 2 2-layer cakes (I use cake mixes)