I wasn't really all that hungry!

Last Friday, Sweet Girl, Scarecrow, the Bug Man and I were scheduled to go out for dinner. It took us several weeks of negotiation before we found a time when Sweet Girl didn't have internship stuff happening; Scarecrow didn't have youth group stuff happening; Bug Man didn't have to get up early to kill bugs; and as for me.... my schedule was pretty open.

Scarecrow is a foodie! There is no other way to explain it. He loves to cook. He loves excellent food and he refuses to pay good money for a meal he could have made at home. For more than a week he googled, contemplated and debated the best place for us to have dinner. Then we needed to figure out what to do with the kids. Should Soda Chicky watch Pseudo Grandbaby? Could we find another sitter for PGB? Should we find a place where the Chicky and PGB would be welcome?

Last Friday the Scarecrow changed the restaurant four times. He called me several times and silly me! I only remembered the converation up to restaurant number three. At 6:15, the Bug Man and I were 45 minutes early for our reservation. We sat in the car listening to the radio until we thought that might be bad for the car. Boy were we right! The car ceased to start. Only made a "click click click" noise. We decided to go in the restaurant in the hopes that absence would lead the car into a cheerier state of being.

We gave the hostess Scarecrow's name and she seemed to think that there was a misprint in her list. Like many Philly dining spots, this was a BYOB. So we drank half a bottle of wine and ate the tasty bread while watching people and the various plates of food go by. At 7:15 we began to be concerned for our friends. I didn't have my cell phone or their phone numbers. But we called Sweet Girl's dad (they were babysitting). The two were "on their way, must be caught in traffic." We waited ten more minutes until our server explained that we didn't have a reservation and that they needed our table. Sigh....

Three phone calls later we knew that I had forgotten we were going to restaurant number four, not number three. Sweet Girl and the Scarecrow were miles away drinking their own bottle of wine. Our car still wouldn't start and the Bug Man was starting to do "the potty dance" on the sidewalk next to our car.

Thankfully, Sweet Girl's dad was only fifteen minutes away and came to our rescue. He had jumper cables so we got the car started. We drove towards home only stopping at the WaWa to get sandwiches and so Bug Man could use the bathroom. (We took turns sitting in the car with the engine running.)

Needless to say, I have been teased quite a bit about all of this. I had a roast beef sandwich for dinner. Bug Man had pastrami. Scarecrow had oysters on the half shell and duckling. Sweet Girl said the Snapper Soup was delicious. We hope to go out sometime before PGB enters kindergarten.

Friday Five - Lenten Reflections

This week on the Rev Gals it's questions about Lent.

1. Did you celebrate Mardi Gras and/or Ash Wednesday this week? How? Shrove Tuesday I made pancakes for Soda Chicky. It's a bit of a tradition. On Ash Wednesday I went to chapel with Scarecrow, Dorothy, the Tin Man and Pseudo Baby.


2. What was your most memorable Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lent? At a former parish we celebrated by having "The Mad Monks of Melody" play for a Mardi Gras dinner and worship. They're a Dixieland jazz band which is made up of musicians who met as Barbershoppers. A fun time was had by all. Nothing like marching around the sanctuary to "When the Saints Go Marching In".


3. Did you/your church/your family celebrate Lent as a child? If not, when and how did you discover it? Lent was always a part of our family. We went to church on Wednesday nights. Often there were special family devotions. No giving up of things. Not a Lutheran thing really.


4. Are you more in the give-up camp, or the take-on camp, or somewhere in between? As a kid, giving-up was "a Catholic thing." As an adult and pastor, I feel that giving things up only makes sense if the abstinence leads you to think about God. If it's just something to be unhappy and grouchy about- forget it.


5. How do you plan to keep Lent this year? Midweek worship at night or mid-day. Reading and having a four week preaching gig.