It was meant to be. Or, maybe not.

I think I have pretty much gotten settled into my work and volunteer and home and kids' sports routines and everything else in between. There are some weeks that are busier than others, but that's life and I'd rather have that than not enough of being busy.

This has been a particularly busy week. Jeffrey caught a virus from his classmates at school. You know, the ones whose parents send them in dosed up on Ibuprofen so they can get through the school day masking their illness. So he missed school Monday through Wednesday. Tommy was sick on Monday and then after straining his adductor muscle (otherwise known as the groin muscle) in the rainy soccer practice Tuesday night and barely being able to walk, he stayed home on Wednesday; hey, I realize he could have hobbled through the school day, but his staying home helped me with Jeffrey, who much rather preferred to stay home than hang out with me at the rectory where I work.

I had to squeeze in two unplanned doctor's appointments - one for Jeffrey on Tuesday, and one for me because the Poison Ivy I caught over the weekend somehow found its way to my face and I was in bad shape. I manage to get it every year and usually endure a week of uncomfortable itching, but I was ready to get the magic steroids that I knew would minimize the suffering. Yay for steroids!

I planned to attend the Mass of the Ascension on Thursday evening, but had a meeting already planned. So, I made arrangements to move it to Wednesday night. After dropping Tommy (who insisted on going so he would be sure to "start" at the State Cup semi-final game on Saturday, despite his injury limitation) at soccer practice tonight, I got the boys dinner, and headed to St. Jude's for Mass. But there were only 3 other cars in the parking lot. Something was wrong. I went to my office to get a bulletin to check the time, because maybe it was at 7:30 and I had put the wrong time in my calendar. But the bulletin in the office was next week's, and they had already removed last week's from the church. So I checked the bulletin online and yes, there was a 7 PM Ascension Mass at St. Jude's. But it was a Vigil Mass that took place last night. Today, they had their Ascension Mass at 8 AM. I fielded many phone calls today from people asking when St. Raphael was having its Ascension Mass. Remember, I work now at St. Raphael's full time. Their Ascension Masses today were at noon and at 7 PM. Of course, I wasn't going to get to Manchester until 7:30, and would miss half of the service.

So I gave up and went home. Do I feel guilty? No. I honestly tried. And anyway, if I hadn't had to attend the meeting that I rescheduled from tonight to last night, I would have never come upon the turtle in the middle of the road and stopped to get it over the embankment and off the road, saving its life.

So, it all happened like it was supposed to. Right? Except for Jeffrey being sick. That could have totally been avoided. Lame parents. Phfft.