Church Stuff, Personal Stuff, and the Location of Purgatory... FOUND!
This post is almost a week late, but this is the first chance I’ve had to really sit and jot down all the goings ons of last weekend and now the potential comings ons of this weekend.
I’ve posted a little about some issues I’ve been having of late (may get more into it in locked posts- maybe) but a lot of this is trying to move past or around said issues. But last Sunday I almost did not go to church, even though I was feeling it was probably something I needed to do. I’m trying to stay active and not isolate myself even though a lot of my brain is wanting to stay locked in the house, hiding under the bed. The church I go to is a very small UU Fellowship which has only existed since 2008 and that morning while I was trying to psyche myself up to get out of bed and go, between hitting the snooze bar I started dreaming that there were so many people there we didn’t have enough seats for everyone and it kept getting more and more crowded. But by the time I full woke up, it seemed it would be too late for me to go. I had no clothes to wear and needed a shower- Could be done if I rushed, but I was not in a rushin’ kind of mood. But then the DJ on the radio said “Hope everyone remembered to set their clocks back last night” D’oh! Daylight savings! I’d forgotten! But granted an extra hour? That seemed like a sign, no? So I managed to get it together, get some laundry done and shower with a ridiculous amount of time to spare.
Got to church and wouldn’t you know it- it was CROWDED. So crowded we kept having to add chairs and widen the circle we’d made. Before it all started, we’d used up almost all the chairs. Hmmm… Another sign? Mayhaps. Then a woman with crutches came in and I quickly pulled up another chair beside me so she could sit. Turns out she works where I work- in the Counseling Services! Ah ha! I told her I may well soon be banging her door down as things have been rocky with me of late. But now I know a friendly face there. Yepper, signs, signs, everywhere a sign!
Church service was a good one about Turning Points in our lives- (And at this point the signs are just about becoming anvils, but hey, maybe I need a good bop over the head) and also we watched a video about several UU congregations who joined forces in New York to get more done, so to speak. That’s what we’ve been trying to do with other UU’s in our surrounding area, so it all fit and was good.
Afterwards, several folks wanted to go on a hike to the Peaks of Otter and I did happen to have my good walking shoes in my car (but sadly not my camera) so I went along. It was COLD but gorgeous up there. REALLY wish I had my camera but at the same time, maybe it was good to just absorb it all through my own eyes rather than the camera lens. There’s pictures in the link above- and yeah, that’s about what it looked like, just a little more on the cloudy side when we were there. Most folks wanted to hike some of the more adventurous trails, but low energy is still a big issue with me so I opted to walk with another lady around the lake. The lake is HUGE! So this was still quite a hike- just on mostly flat land which was all I could handle then. We had a good time, just the two of us. Turns out she has three cats just like me and a fellow cat person is always dear to my heart. So it was a very good walk and talk but near the end we were freezing our cat-lovin’ buns off and headed back towards the Lodge. About the time we decided to go hunt for the other, they were already heading our way, so all was well. The man who organized the hike is 80 years old and kicks everyone’s butts. Everyone was cold and pooped and he was still wanting to hit the Appalachian Trail. OY! But he kindly drove us to where he wanted to go hiking and pointed it out from the road rather than forcing us to walk it any further.
On the way there we passed by Purgatory Mountain! BWAH HA HA HA HA!! I’ve lived in this general area most of my life and even have cousins on my mother’s side who live near Peaks of Otter- but I NEVER realized there was a Mountain named PURGATORY here! BWAH HA HA! Well, Crowley can hang it up and stop hoarding souls and torturing Alphas now. I can give the little Scottish Leprechaun directions! I doubt the folks in the car knew why I was giggling about it as hard as I was.
So, it was a good day, but an exhausting one. I needed that! But sadly, Monday brought more meltdowns. *SIGHS*. I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time shaking the Big D this go ‘round. It’s just got it’s hooks in that hard I reckon. Still.
This weekend, there’s going to be a workshop at the UU in Lynchburg on the subject of stopping bullying. All week, I’ve been feeling everyone else from my church would go and I should be there too. But the meltdowns earlier this week have just left me worn down physically and emotionally so I was mostly of the mind that I would not go. Still, this little voice kept saying I need to keep doing this. I need to keep active and support my church not only in their efforts to expand what we’ve got going on in our little corner of the world, but also in branching out with other churches to promote social justice. So today, I was still thinking on it. Feeling I really needed to do this, but mentally talking myself out of it.
I saw that the deadline to RSVP was today at 10am and only realized that at 9:45- LOL! But with 15 minutes to spare, I sent an email asking since I wasn’t sure if I would go if I needed to give a definite answer right then or else could I just show up if things worked out that way? The guy answered me back and said I was the only one who had RSVP’d and that as far as he knew, no one else was going. But that it would be good for someone to represent our fellowship and since he knew I’d had some personal dealings with bullying in my past that I would be the PERFECT representative to go…
OH…. SNAP!!!!
Erk… Now… yeah, I’m thinking more than ever this is something I really need to do. It’s not that I’m feeling pressure from this guy at all. (In fact, I’m one of those folks who if they feel pressured will dig her heels in even harder refusing to play along) But it seems more like one of those pesky little signs that have been popping up here, there and everywhere. So yeah… I think I got my marching orders to attend this workshop and be there to help get this ball rolling both for our little fellowship and for the upstart of this program.
Still… oy to the vey, I hope I’m not biting off more than I can mentally chew right now.
In the meantime- Show tonight YAY! And I will be promptly emailing directions to Purgatory Mountain to one Mr. Crowley so that he can leave our Boyz alone and stop bugging Alphas with his Scottish Inquisition. There is a nice Cave in Purgatory Mountain he can go spelunking in… and maybe get his little leprechaun self lost- heh heh!