Holy Saturday was a day of much-needed rest and relaxation for me. I spent time in the hotel room painting my fingernails and toenails, watching movies, and being with my husband and best friends. As the day wore on, I began to get very anxious and felt the need to get out. (This feeling of being trapped and needing to escape is a symptom of my PTSD, and when my stress levels get high, my symptoms get worse). I eventually left the hotel alone and wandered down the street where I found a Goodwill Store. I bought a new outfit, which I wore to Pascha services that night, and then wandered around town some more. After a few hours, I made my way back to the hotel, where we all watched a bit more TV. Finally, it was time to go to church!
Pascha was wonderful, of course. The church wasn't packed full to the brim, and the music wasn't the most perfect, but that didn't matter at all.
At the meal afterward, I spent some time meeting new people, including the priest's father. He was a wonderful person who told me about his work with the military. At one point, I was sitting next to the priests' brother-in-law, who was holding his daughter. She turned toward me, sleepy but grinning, and I asked her if she had a good time and if she was going to get some food to eat. She just grinned and her father explained she was non-verbal. About a half-hour later, as I was walking around, she came up to me and took my hand and smiled at me. I knelt down on the floor and was talking to her and the other little kids, and she sat on my lap and smiled at me. It completely melted my heart!
The next day I was too excited to sleep in very late, so I got up around 9 and began packing up. We were able to get late check-out though so I spent the morning alternating lounging in bed with slowly packing up. On the drive home we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had just opened (it was delicious!), then stopped for ice cream (Hooray for the end of the fast!) before finally making it back home.
The whole weekend was a really good time. I don't appreciate the circumstances surrounding our 'flight into Egypt' but I did appreciate the warm and loving reception that we received while we were there.
No comments:
Post a Comment