The Merry, Merry Month of May

Lately, I feel like I'm trapped in one of those revolving doors, and there's no getting out of it--at least until after the first weekend of June, when we'll finally put Katie's high school career to rest with her graduation open house. And while I'd like to pause and have a good look at what's going on, it's all passing by like a blur. It's a combination of end-of-the-year school activities and just some miscellaneous May madness.

This is what last week looked like:

*Monday: We had a minister friend from California over for dinner--one of two dinners we had at home last week. He was here in Grand Rapids to take a seminary course, so it was a good opportunity to get together. It was a delightful evening and good start to the week.

*Tuesday: Tuesday was actually a free night, with no planned activities. Honestly, I can't remember what happened.

*Wednesday: We attended a convocation service where seniors who were good students received various awards for their high school activities. Katie was acknowledged for her participation in drama, for the dean's scholarship she is receiving from Cornerstone University, for her good grades, and I think there was something else, but that was almost a week ago, and I'm having difficulty remembering things that were more than five minutes ago right now.

*Thursday: We attended a dinner for Westminster Seminary (CA). It was a nice evening, and we were seated at a table with good company. Dr. Godfrey, the president, was the speaker, and he's always interesting to listen to.

Friday: We attended the Playbills at South Christian. At the end of the school year, after the musical, seniors who have been active in drama during their high school careers have an opportunity to direct their own plays. Katie and her friend Sarah directed The Adventures of Molly Malloy. This meant that they chose the play, cast it, ran rehearsals, pulled together all the costumes, designed the set--basically everything the teacher-directors normally do. Katie has acted in Playbills before, but this was her first opportunity to direct, and she and Sarah and their cast did an excellent job. It was a great learning experience, and it left her ending her high school career on a definite high note. The other two plays were good as well. In fact, these were the best Playbills I've seen since Katie has been a student at South.

Saturday: Henry and I tried hard to get Katie and one of her friends to use the tickets we reserved for the Master Arts Theater production of The Screwtape Letters. But they had other things to do, and even though we were exhausted, we went ahead. But we were so glad we did. As usual, the script, the acting, the set were all excellent, and since both Henry and I are C. S. Lewis fans, we marvelled again at the creativity and insight of this great Christian author. One bonus was arriving and finding out that one of my co-workers was playing the role of Satan, which actually creeped me out a little.

Sunday: Besides all the usual church-related activities, Sunday night was the spring choir concert. It was two hours long since it ended up being the only concert of the year. The choir director had surgery at Christmas time, when there usually is another concert. As I sat and listened, I felt a little sad realizing that there would be no more high school choir concerts. Afterwards, I saw one of Katie's senior friends crying, and I asked Katie, "Aren't you just a little bit sad? I'm a little bit sad." "Not at all," she said. And I'm pretty sure that she wasn't.

And so this whole uncreative posting is a result of the fact that I've been way too busy to think. In the past I've had whole years when I haven't seen this much activity. This week shouldn't be quite so chaotic, and I'm hoping that the revolving door will stop long enough for me to enjoy Katie's graduation on Thursday night, when I will probably be a little bit sad and Katie will not.