The Office: As the Dust Settles

My son Mike played high school football. Every Thursday night before game day, one football family would host a pasta night at their home for the entire team.  I LOVED it and looked forward to my turn. 

The planning for this dinner was intense - What to serve, how much to serve, where to serve, where to eat, food to buy, paper goods to pick up, a tanker truck filled with Gatorade to rent, and a house to clean (although I’m not sure why I bothered with this one. Once you cram all the football players in the house, there are no visible surfaces left anywhere.)

I planned months in advance, completely stressed myself out, cooked for days, and counted the minutes until Thursday night.

That's me in the middle wondering where all the food went.

After practice, 70 large, wide, hungry young men took over my home, swarmed the food like a plague of locusts, and left mass destruction in their wake.  A rim of dried pasta sauce in the pans and cookie crumbs on the floors were the only signs that my kitchen once held food. Serving spoons were bent in the middle from hungry guys trying to fill their plates with one economical, but gigantic scoop of meatballs. The fact that my sink was piled full of dishes amazed me since I only set out paper and plastic to eat with. Where did those dishes come from?  

For a moment, the house was filled with loud, dirty, laughing, yelling, beefy guys and then, after a brief flurry of “Bye Mrs. G!” and “Thanks Mike’s mom!” the house was empty and strangely silent.  I sat on a kitchen stool, exhilarated and exhausted, and waited for my heart rate to return to normal.  There was always a feeling of extreme satisfaction combined with melancholy. The event I put so much time, energy and emotion into was a success! But it was also over - and soon these years, and these dinners, would pass.

Mrs. Harvey is going through something similar right now. As Administrative Assistant for Shepherds College, a lot of her time during the last several months was invested in preparing for Orientation weekend, and now those days are in her rear view mirror. She’s cleaning up and moving forward.

Here are her thoughts from The Office:

“The flurry of Orientation is already past tense.  Students have been in class for 2 weeks, and coming ‘round the corner in another two weeks is Labor Day—already!  I’m still stuck in last year and can hardly believe last year’s first-year students are already this year’s second-year students, spending their mornings studying their major specialty!   

Brian, Christian & Lindsay in their Culinary Arts jackets.

I feel lost. 

I made it to Day 1 of Orientation weekend, but then slipped out of the picture with a back injury.  My first day back was yesterday, and everyone seems to have settled in.  Lockers are full, the weather is glorious, students seem to know their way around, and the remains of Orientation signage and paperwork fill my office table.  

Christian

Joe

Sean resting after working hard at his internship

Ray & Tess clean their tools after a day at the farm.

Our faculty roster has just about doubled, third-year students rise to the challenge of their internships, and the dust has settled as year 5 of Shepherds College is unwrapped.  All that is left from this office view is for me to catch up!”

Cathy catching up.

“…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” Heb. 12:1

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