Desperate Measures - Part 2

Last week I was in Orlando in connection with my husband's business Conference. As part of these conferences, they always put on a big party the last night. There is an "open bar," so you get the picture of what kind of "party" I'm talking about! ;) The conference attendees get in to this party as part of the conference, but for me, a Guest Pass is required. To the tune of a $100 add-on price. (So, pretty much we're paying for the all-you-can-drink alcohol that everyone else is consuming.) Since I don't drink, it works out to be quite an expensive roll, salad, rice, and pork shish kabob I consumed.

Incidentally, to get water, we still had to go up to the bar. (And you can imagine the wait considering the free booze.) You should see the LOOK [of shock] on the bartender's face when we asked for that water bottle. That's it? Would you like anything else? he questioned dumbfounded. Nope, just water. Thanks! And we walked away and left the bartender attempting to shake himself back to consciousness.

But, there were other activities to enjoy and pass one's time. Like tattoos, face painting, and hair braiding/beading. I suggested that I get the "princess" face mask and Matt could get the pirate - and then we could just see where the evening went from there... (wink, wink)

But, he politely declined. (shocker!)

He gets his own kind of "wild hair" when we go on these Get Aways - he grows a goatee.

So, I had to settle for the hair braids:


So, while I was here getting my hair done in Orlando, back at home we were getting multiple calls [that we were obviously missing] from the Stake Executive Secretary. He left the message that the Stake President wanted to meet with the both of us and to call him ASAP.

Now, when you get that kind of call, naturally, one starts to speculate WHAT the reason for the meeting could be about. You know what I thought of first? Remember the dicey email episode from last month? I thought, The news has finally traveled clear to the Stake and they're gonna "fire" him!


Other ideas we had were along the lines of being asked to speak in our upcoming Stake Conference, releasing - or getting a feel for whether or not to release - Matt from his Elder's Quorom President calling, or getting a new calling - amongst some other wild, unlikely ones we came up with.

But, while considering the most probable reasons, I also thought about our time restrictions. We got home about 10:30p.m. Saturday night - very tired - and we were to meet with the Stake President at 8:30a.m. Sunday morning. I presented the argument to Matt that we wouldn't have time to take out the braids and to shave so we should just go to the appointment AS IS. :) I, personally, thought it might help to sure up a few things, too. Like NOT being asked to speak in Stake Conference. Like NOT being extended a new [Stake] calling. Like sealing the deal on deciding to release Matt. ;)

In the end, Matt did get released during that morning meeting with our Stake President. There's no new calling and we're not speaking in Stake Conference, either! Now, don't I have brilliant ideas?!? :)

Can you guess what we did about the beaded braids and the goatee situation? ;)



*****

In reality, I (we) may joke about getting released - or if we can "manipulate" the release - from church callings, but the actual day was quite somber. I've always looked at other people who had a time-consuming calling for an extended period of time and felt a bit sorry for them. When they finally got released, I always thought, Oh, I bet they're so glad/relieved! I was very surprised at my own actual reaction - it was the opposite, sadness. And Matt felt it, too. I guess perhaps I was feeling it for him. We compared it to how we both felt when our full-time missions for the church ended. A sadness because he wanted to accomplish a little bit more, have some of his high hopes come to pass. A sadness because it's sort of a loss, in a way - a loss of "his flock," a loss of purpose, a loss of his "Labor of Love." A sadness that time passes by so quickly.....A sadness that now he has to be home on Sunday mornings helping me get The Brood ready in time for 9:00AM church! ;)