Holy Week and Easter.

Holy week really wasn’t the best this year and most of it had to do with the fact that I was down with a bad sore throat, fever and cold. I seriously thought that I was over the flu season, but there was an article in the papers that mentioned this year’s strain of bug is one pretty nasty one and it’s been hanging around longer than prior years. I knew something was up when my throat started feeling a little sore on Sunday night and that just does not normally happen to me unless I’m coming down with something. True enough, when I got up on Monday, my throat was amazingly sore and I had a fever. I called in to work and pretty much rested the whole day. I did the same on Tuesday also. I made it back to work on Wednesday, but my voice still wasn’t quite there. I actually left fifteen minutes earlier from work and just crashed in my apartment. I did not work at the facility that evening.

Thursday was Holy Thursday and I was feeling better – at least better enough to make to church. The service was nice and it has got to be one of my most favorite services in the liturgical year. On Good Friday, Drake’s Men’s basketball team played their first round game in the NCAA tournament. The office staff got permission from Joel to watch the game in the conference room and it was kind of a luncheon. I was covering the phones up front during the first half but I knew what was going on at the game. I managed to watch the second half of the game which was a really good half especially since we managed to claw back from being sixteen points down to tie the game. The game went into overtime and at the last second, the other team drained a three pointer and all of us felt like a knife just pierced through our hearts. Take nothing away from the team, it was an amazing season and all of us are looking forward to next season as I’m sure there will be a number of new players who will step up to the plate and we have three starters who will be returning. All in all this year’s basketball season was one heck of a ride. So many of us are extremely proud to call ourselves Drake Bulldogs. I went to work at the facility for a short while before heading to St. Kate’s for Good Friday service. It was a solemn service and you could sense the piety of those of us present at the service. After the service, I went back to my apartment to rest before working my regular hours on Saturday.

I normally treat myself to a nice pre-Easter Vigil dinner, but because I was still recovering, I decided not to do anything special. Moreover, my taste buds were all awry and the last thing I wanted to do was to go out and have a nice meal and not be able to taste it. I ended up eating what was served at the facility which was goulash and it tasted fine. Easter Vigil service went very well. Members from the RCIA group are not full members of the Catholic Church. One guy got baptized and two others were confirmed. It was a very nice Rite of Initiation. Kind of makes you feel proud to be Catholic! After the service, I went back to my apartment and chilled.

My Easter Sunday ritual has always been to sing with the 2nd Sunday group, but this was the first year in ten years I did not sing with the group. My voice was slowly returning and the last thing I wanted to do was to lose it again. I felt kind of bummed about that, but there will be other Easter Sundays for me to sing. Since I did not make it to Easter Sunday service, I stayed in my apartment and watched the Liverpool vs. Man. United game. Oh, how disappointed I was when one of our players was sent off. I personally believe it was an extremely harsh decision. The game pretty much went downhill for Liverpool after the dismissal. The worst part about it was the fact that it was billed as a very exciting match with so much at stake. Oh, well. I made it in to the facility and it was a pretty quiet day overall. We made turkey for the residents and it turned out fine.

That was pretty much how Holy Week and Easter went.