Last night was the engagement party for me and Candyce. She and her mom took care of planning the food throughout the week. My job was to call everyone and get the house ready. So most of my week was committed to straightening out a house that still isn’t ready to be lived in. We scrambled up until the doorbell rang and the first guests stepped in.

It was wild. There must’ve been 80 people who came by through out the night. The party started at 6:15 PM with that first guest, and the last guest left at 1:45 AM. That’s a seven and a half hour party. It was great to have so many wonderful people in my home. So many brilliant, happy people. And they brought such simple but generous gifts, some in boxes, others in envelopes. I am blessed to have such great friends.

This was a new kind of party for me. I was never interested in high school parties, and college parties didn’t do much for me either. But inspite of my lack of interest, I’ve been to a bazillion parties. And very few of them were to celebrate anything of worth. Yeah it’s good to win the homecoming game, but is anyone’s life really different a week later? Then there are mindless fraternity parties which are just about getting girls, and anyone who disagress with me can’t see the truth in front of them.

So last night’s party was to celebrate something of substance–that Candyce and I are pledging to give our lives to one another. How amazing is that?

:::

This afternoon was crazy. I got uprooted out of my Saturday morning coffee to meet a Realtor at my old house because some people wanted to walk around and check it out. This derailed my schedule and set the path for the rest of the day. Not one thing happened today as I planned. I expected it to be a leisurely day after the big party last night, but instead it was spent zig-zagging across town and random manual labor in the hot August sun. Then another Realtor called… I’m boring myself just to think about it again, so I’ll avoid writing any more about my chores throughout the day.

In between showings I drove over to the parish to pray. My biggest prayer intentions have been for peace in the Middle East, for the capture of a serial killer in Phoenix, and that I would sell my house. It’s just good to sit in the chapel and put life in perspective. God is so big, and that is always so good. Bigger than my sin, my worries, bigger than me. So beautiful and holy. On my third trip to church this afternoon, I went to confession. Standing in line for confession is almost as humiliating as actually confessing my sins. I mean, we all know we are sinners. You go to church for that very reason. But it’s awkward to stand next to a stranger for 30 minutes with full knowledge that we all suck.

It’s about five in the afternoon now, and I just ate my first thing of the day. I think I’m just going to be a couch potato for the next couple hours. If people want to judge me for watching TV, that’s okay because they do not have Tivo, so they can not understand that this is a different kind of TV. I’m going to finish this journal and watch back-to-back commercial-free episodes of Miami Vice. How awesome is that?