He Has Shown the Strength of His Arm

By Holy Saturday, I was ready for Lent to end.  It can wear you down.  Friday night, after Stations of the Cross in the afternoon and the Good Friday liturgy including the Veneration of the Cross in the evening, I had gruesome dreams.

Watching our cat, Claudius, in the front yard, I chatted with G., our neighbor across the street.  I said that I'd had a sore arm, and I wasn't sure I could crank my lawn mower.  Last week's rains had made the grass grow, and the neighborhood had echoed with the noise of mowers and leaf blowers.  G. had mowed on Friday, and I felt guilty.  G. demonstrated his back exercise in reply, and we swapped the names of our chiropractors.  Aches and pains, the news of geezers.

R. and I went out to Sahara, a Middle Eastern restaurant, for supper:  spinach pie for her, a chicken pita wrap and Greek salad for me.  We went home, changed into our best, and left early for the three-hour Easter Vigil Mass.  Father H., who is from Spain, sang beautifully the Exultet.  We had a large number of candidates for adult baptism, including what appeared to be a whole family.  One woman, 50-ish, wearing a shag cut with a touch of gray, looked to have "been around the block".  I felt a connection with her, and wished her joy at her new beginning.

I meant to cut the grass on Sunday, but I worried about my right arm.  I had strained it lifting rental books overhead to store on high shelves, and though it felt better, I wondered if  starting the lawn mower, cold and unused over the winter, might be too much.  Again and again I pulled the cord.  I decided to let it warm up in the sun for a little while, and after that it roared to life.  I mowed, edged the curb, raked the leaves out of the storm drain.  Mission accomplished!

For our Easter dinner I grilled lamb chops on the back patio, while R. prepared baked potatoes, roasted asparagus, and a salad with sweet, perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes from New Leaf Market.

We talked about how glad we were that Lent was over, and about how hard the legislative session had been.  Then we said the rosary and listened to Easter chants on Millennium of Music.  It is finished.