What Now

Whew. I finally have a few minutes! Work has been busy the last couple of days. Amazingly, it isn't because I've had a lot to do, but the things I've been doing have taken a long time. I had to completely redraw a PLSS (Portable Life Support System) diagram for one of the new exhibits, and it took a whole day on its own. It didn't look that complicated when I started, but good Lord!

Anyways, I wanted to tell you about last weekend since I got to spend it with Brother Josh! Yay! I haven't seen him since he left for his Novitiate in July and I've missed him terribly. He's on the first of his "Am I Sure I Want To Do This" visits back home. He surprised me at work on Friday and I all but tackled him in the hallway of our offices. We hung out for a while and then agreed to meet for coffee later that night since he had to go to mass.

He's changed since he's been gone. He has gotten so skinny, wears Jesus sandals and hugs everyone he meets instead of shaking hands. It's fun to watch him hug people who aren't expecting it. It's like being at one of my family reunions. Some families drink, my family hugs.

Steve, Me, and Anthony met up with him at a cafe near the school he used to be principle of and he told us all about his new life out in Colorado. He seems genuinely happy and glad he made the decision to join up, so I'm glad for him. We didn't stay out long because Anthony had to work the nest day and Josh had some kind of prayer thing t attend the next day, but he asked me if I would go with him to Cullman the next day so that he could visit the St. Bernard Abbey.

I picked him up from St. John's the next morning and he was dressed in his habit. He explained all the pieces of it to me, but I can't remember the names of them. It was all white except for his belt, rosary, and Jesus sandals, which were black. We decided that it wouldn't be a problem for him to wear it in Cullman since there is a monastery there, plus it kind of looks like a Klan robe, so he'd be safe either way! I took him to lunch at All Steak because he had been jonesing the orange rolls for months! We got seated and had a "Bless His Heart" moment with the waiter. Well, we had two of them, actually. Josh was feeling kind of uncomfortable because he doesn't normally wear his habit unless he's doing some official God business, so kind of out of nowhere he asked the poor waiter, who was probably all of 17 years old, "Look at me. At first sight, do I look like a crazy person for wearing this or do I look like a Klan member?" The kid actually said he looked like a Klan member! Then he kind of backtracked when he realized he was a Brother, so I kind of felt sorry for him. :) Once we had our orange roll fix, we headed off to St. Bernard's to visit the gift shop of the Ave Maria Grotto. Josh was looking for a new crucifix, and I just kind of browsed around. I have little use for rosaries, but they have an impressive selection of candles and condiments made my monks across the country! Josh apparently met an elderly monk while shopping and made arrangements to go back later in the week and pray with them. Josh misses his community. I guess it feels like he's left his family behind for a while. While we were there, Josh wanted to visit the abbey cemetery, so we headed off that way. The path leading down there is also the path with the stations of the cross down each side. We saw one of the Benedictine brothers doing his stations, so Josh smiled and waved at him. The brother looked Josh up and down but didn't smile, wave, or anything. It was actually kind of funny. Their habits looked almost exactly the same, but Josh, being Dominican wears all white, and the Benedictine guy wears all black. I had a complete "Spy vs. Spy" moment and cracked up. I was kind of disappointed no one threw a bomb!

He didn't find what he was looking for, so we headed back to Huntsville to look in another store. Apparently Josh has this idea that since I'm not Catholic, that I am completely uncomfortable around the trappings of his religion. He kept asking me if I felt sacrilegious being around the saints and stuff. I finally had to tell him that we do worship the same God, so no, I was not feeling particularly sacrilegious simply being in a Catholic bookstore. Jeez. We headed back to my house because we were meeting Steve and Anthony again for dinner at Bridge Street since Josh was gone before it opened. He said he couldn't wear his habit, so he wanted to change and do one of his novenas (?) before we went. I just took a nap.

Since the place he had planned on having dinner at had a four hour waiting time, we wound up having dinner at this swanky new restaurant called "Dolce." It was a place I had been wanting to try, but it hadn't been open since the last time I was in Bridge Street. It was small, dark, had a hipper than thou, although very nice, wait staff, huge plasma screens playing videos of fire and embossed leather covered tables. The food was expensive, but good, and I really liked the atmosphere. Well, except that I felt under dressed. The bathrooms had black toilet paper! I had to take some out to show to Steve, but don't worry, I was very discrete. :) After dinner we strolled around the shopping area. Josh and I went into the spa and got a tour of the place by the third gayest man I'd ever personally met. He assumed that Josh and I were a couple, and since it seemed more trouble than it was worth to explain, we said nothing. He kept telling us how we could get a couples package and do this and that in their couples rooms. We just got a good smirk or two out of it. The last place we went was a jewelry store. Josh wanted to pick out his convocation ring, which is basically just a wedding band. He walked into the store and yelled "I need a wedding band!" The ladies working there took one look at us and went "AWWWWWWW!" Then Josh looked at me and said "Not for her. I need one." They all looked a little shocked at that. I finally had to explain he was going to marry Jesus, and only after I said he was becoming is priest did they finally get it. I helped him pick one out: 4mm white gold, plain.

Heeheehee. I know this is probably a bad way to describe this, but being a woman and having a priest, or Novitiate priest as the case may be, as a close friend is kind of like having a gay best friend. You feel totally comfortable going places and doing anything with them, people usually think your dating, you can talk about anything without being uncomfortable, they are fun to shop with and you know you will never, never, never want to have sex with them. It's a lot of fun!

The next day I went to church, of course, but I was sick. We had lunch with mom and then I went home and slept. I guess it was being outside all the day before breathing in the first grains of pollen. Who knows? Anyways, the weekend was full and fun, so there you go.