Saturday was a busy day in which my task was to ctreate and print the song sheets for the school’s liturgical music practice. This was interrupted by a funeral around midday and the usual Vigil Mass later that evening. Sunday was barely noteworthy with the usual flow of Masses and a return for the Evening Mass.

Monday was a holiday. It would ordinarily have been my day off so I would take that some other time. It is strange thing of language that a day off becomes a holiday which I may be able to defer into a vacation!

Tuesday began with a school liturgical music rehearsal and then became a day of preparation for the following Sunday’s Masses.I spent two hours of the day at the nearby Guitar Centre placing an order for a digital recording studio and a new digital piano. After two hours I’d lost the will to live and even then they got the order wrong!

Wednesday began with the school Mass followed by a meeting regarding a wedding in October when I would also play piano for the cocktail hour. At lunchtime all the staff gathered to celebrate recent birthdays and to bid a fond farewell on the retirement of Sylvia our receptionist. Great Cuban food was provided and enjoyed! After a long day We had the first choir practice of the season. This went well after the despond around the funeral of Mgr Higgins.

I had decided to take Thursday as a day off in lieu of Monday’s Labor Day holiday. There was a funeral on Thursday at 10am and having played for that I visited the beach. After the hurricane the weather had not been conducive to spending time there and immediately after the storm the water was pretty dirty. So it was good to spend some time there today. Then I joined friends at Dagwood’s. It was the first time I’d been there and I was made to feel very welcome!

On Friday I was slow to rise but again visited the beach until the rain returned during the afternoon. Then, having realised that I had amassed 5 days extra over the NPM and Mgr’s Funeral I decided to book a week on the Atlantic coast. I found a beachside studio on Cocoa Beach and booked it.

Saturday was a tough day I had a funeral in the morning, a wedding in the evening and a Mass in between. I also managed to fit in some preparation of another funeral for Monday.I was very tired by the time we got to the wedding and was slightly irked by the huge array of cameras being brought into the church to record the wedding. I felt my blood pressure rising and regretted the fact that I had not taken any pills for a few days.

On Sunday having slept well I felt all the better and even prepared some pizza to keep me going. This was also in addition to the kindness in the form of a banana and a sandwich prepared by members of the choir. Today was the 15th commemoration of 9/11 and I feared anti-Islamic sentiment so I posted some thoughts to the choir seeking their compassion and prayer for the many Moslems who want nothing to do with terrorism. Fortunately the readings were also a cogent selection focussing on mercy. It was the first choir Sunday and as well as Paul Inwood’s Holy Year Hymn we sang ‘Did you know someone’s watching over you’ by Bernadette Farrell. During the afternoon I watched Chelsea draw with Swansea and then returned to work for the evening Mass. Monday’s funeral had some tricky music which was way outside my comfort zone. I refuse to sing soul music or even to sing karaoke because my voice sounds like a chorister’s and it doesn’t work. However I had agreed to sing and play two songs in what was always going to be a difficult funeral. A week ago a boyfriend and girlfriend had been driving in the wee hours and drove the car into a tree. Both were killed outright.

Monday should have been a day off but I chose to play for the funeral and got there in time to connect a relative’s ipod for the final music. Normally we would not allow pre-recorded music but  we made an exception in this traumatic situation but waited until the liturgy was over before starting the track. My soul singing went well and one of our sacristans asked if it was me or a recording (Bless her!). I pointed out that it was outside my comfort zone and she asserted that I should widen my zone!

Now it’s 2.30pm and the rain is falling once again so perhaps some washing and ironing is in order and later a visit to the bar, I suspect.