The Seattle Chronicles: Day Nine

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot..."

Before the evening's festivities began, Shirley and I headed to church, as the following day was a Holy Day of Obligation. I served at the altar for a visiting priest, an older man who regularly celebrated Mass there. He tended to improvise a bit -- okay, quite a bit. During the start of the Eucharistic Prayer, he was still "winging it," using from memory the text fo the Third Eucharistic Prayer, the part that comes after the Consecration. At some point, he realized (some time after I did) that he was in over his head. He turned to me in some distress and muttered, "I think I left out the Consecration." I stepped from the front side pew up to the altar, pointing to the text on the page already open. He continued, with me standing at his left shoulder, in the manner of a Master of Ceremonies. I'll admit it was more initiative than they were accustomed to seeing from an "altar boy (or girl)." But I was no kid, and I wasn't about to leave this guy's side until I was sure he was sure of himself. (That's what happens when you walk the wire without a net, Padre.) The rest of the Mass went without incident. After Mass, one of the staff played down the incident: "He probably would have figured it out eventually." Uh-huh.

On the other hand, at least three parishioners came up to my aunt and said, "It was a good thing your nephew was up there."

I arrived at the home of Julia, a fixure of the local zydeco community, a little bit early. Just in time to help take the rugs down to the basement, the furniture in the living and dining rooms having already been moved. This was certainly a better occasion for personal interaction than a bar or a dance hall, so the dancing didn't start right away. There was Charlotte, who remembered my aunt Shirley's husband from a physiology lecture course he once taught, on her way to a masters in recreation. I saw Sandra again, who remembered me from the other night. We had a chance to talk more this time, and I had looked forward to that. Her recent experience with separation and divorce served to explain her sudden reticence toward me at one point last Saturday. I told her of a wonderful book, Crazy Time by Abigail Trafford, and of how I had bought over a dozen copies for men and women over the last decade. ("I'm on a mission from God.") I believe that sharing our stories helped to put her at ease. Perhaps the book will help even more.

It may have been the most memorable New Year's Eve I had ever had to date. The music was recorded, but the dancing was live enough!!! These people were SOOOO much fun. We kidded one another about the "differences" between East Coast and West Coast. They all broke down on the dance floor though. We rung in the New Year together, all of us. Those who were strangers were strangers no more. What a lovely ending for a tumultuous year! What a lovely beginning for the next!!!