A labor-full weekend

Labor Day is a day off for many, and it will be for me, too, this year.  Unlike many, I didn't actually have a three-day weekend free of work, though.  I think I've mentioned that my new job at our parish is multi-faceted.  Day-to-day I'm doing admin kinds of things with about two-thirds of my time.  The other one-third or so is devoted to cultivating our programs for children and youth.  Then, with a bit of left-over, extra time, I've been asked to help promote our parish as a place to get married.  Given that it is a beautiful facility with an even more beautiful gardens and landscaping, this is actually a pretty easy part of the job. 

While I don't typically work on Saturdays, and don't work much on Sundays, this weekend was different.  For starters, I coordinated my first wedding on Saturday.  This was a small, simple wedding that I was actually involved with from start to finish since the couple called during my first week.  The bride adopted a little girl four years ago, and I was completely taken with Lucy.  She was very excited that "We're going to be a family!"  She had a bit of trouble standing up with her parents during the ceremony, and I was thrilled when she took right to the coloring sheets I'd printed out to distract her just in case.  What an amazing experience to share in someone's wedding day!

Then today, I had a completely different, but equally cool, experience.  Today was my first youth group outing, which involved recruiting, transporting, and keeping alive a dozen middle- and high-schoolers.  Given those requirements, mission accomplished!  Oh, and I think they all had a good time, too!  My co-teacher sails and mentioned last year that we could take our kids sailing on his boat.  Add in a few more kids and the adults to drive them, and we ended up with two sailboats and a pontoon boat.  I even managed to coordinate the car assignments so that my kids were all together (so I could work a Sunday School lesson into the drive to the lake).

I think I've totally earned my Labor Day off this year (of course, it falls on a Monday which is my day off anyhow...).  I was so happy to work both Saturday and Sunday, though.  I got to make a difference and improve someone else's life.  I enjoyed myself, and I enjoyed others.  It's silly, maybe, but these are things I didn't always have in my previous work experiences, and they make such a difference.  Something to be thankful for.