The Meltdown
Today was the Sunday that my family had to co-host coffee hour after church service. No, this wasn't something I signed up for, but part of the congregation's solution to having no volunteers for coffee hour hosts. They went down the list of families in alphabetical order and signed two families up for each Sunday throughout the year. So each family hosts once. Not a terrible burden; a good way to get to know your fellow families.
Of course, being my luck I was notified that my coffee hour date was August 17th...yes, two weeks after I deliver...via c-section. I immediately (back in March) got on the phone trying to trade off my date with another family. Who wouldn't want the Sunday during prime vacation time? Yeah. After about 12 calls around, I finally spoke with a lovely woman from the altar guild who helped me narrow down the list of families to those who might actually be around in August...and then found someone willing to trade their date (today) with me.
Earlier this week I called the family I was co-sponsoring with to see how we could divide of the list of things to bring. Great news was that they had actually hosted coffee hour before and had some idea of what to expect. Knowing the summer isn't a packed-church time of year, we also lucked out on the fact that we only had to serve maybe 30-40 people instead of many more. We divided out the things to bring (drinks, food, plates, napkins) and then they casually mentioned that they'd have to leave just about when coffee hour would start as they had tickets to a basketball game on the other side of the state. At least they'd be there to help me set up...no big deal.
We arrived this morning, I with my gallon of lemonade, bottle of white grape juice, basket of mini banana muffins that I baked from scratch last night, and plates and napkins...they with their cheese and crackers and half and half. The parish hall was already set up for coffee hour (our luck) from the 8am service. Score. We just set up the next round of coffee pots, put out more cups, and set up our treats. Then off to church service we went.
I got into the pew and picked up the Hymnal ready to sing (my husband and son were down playing in the nursery). A few minutes passed and the service began. I stood and started singing and noticed by the end that I was just melting. I sat down with the rest of the congregation and pulled out a kleenex to wipe my face down...and after a few minutes was once again cool. Well, that was strange. Then it happened again at the next Hymn, and every one after that. I'd sweat just from standing and singing (and no, I'm not typical choir material, but I can sing in tune). Guess my body just can't take that little extra exertion.
Coffee hour did go well, and I got lots of women asking me when I was due, was I ready for it to be over with (heck no, he's on my schedule right now!), and if we had names picked out (yeah, but we can't narrow down the list or come to any agreement). My co-hosts were very pleasant, but did leave us with clean-up. Not that bad. Had to walk the coffee pots into the back of the basement to be washed, wash down the tables, return the coffee cart to the upstairs office, and pick up the trash and other leave behinds. All-in-all I've served my community, had a few nice conversations, and can now sit back and not need to do anything for these remaining 4 weeks. Let's just hope now that all of my obligations are over and done with...he doesn't decide to make an early appearance!