stuff i think

Written Tues AM, posted when I get near the web...

Yesterday was an intense work day – I joined 8 others in the office on Capitol Hill while Kelsey, Paul and Cheryl stayed at Camp Bennett and led a crew in cleanup. I think it is wholly accurate to say that Camp Bennett had not seen this sort of activity in quite some time. The office team was going to work until about 7 pm (to leave at 5 pm is to sentence yourself to automotive purgatory) so rather than stay that long, I walked to the train station at 4 pm and rode to the end of the line, where I had Adam and Ashley – two of our prayer activists – pick me up and drive me on out to the camp.

My five block walk to the train station took be between the Supreme Court building and the Capitol....a sidewalk punctuated by serious looking people with sharp features, Blackberries in one hand and cell phones in the other. At one point I heard one say “well, we only had about 10 minutes with the senator but I am convinced he heard what we were saying.” I felt like asking if anyone knew Martin Sheen.

During the day, Kels and Cheryl took a foray to Sam’s Club in Gaithersburg. Gaithersburg takes about an hour to drive to and 30 minutes to drive home from. I know that makes no sense, but having done the same thing with Paul, I have a high amount of grace around the whole ordeal. They returned home with an SUV and minivan full of groceries to last the 40+ of us until the weekend. The official cook arrives in a few days and for this we all say “even so, come quickly” as it will alleviate a lot of headache for Kels and Cheryl.

I’m learning that time alone is hard to find around here. Both Paul and I have taken to getting up early and finding a quiet place for prayer. I have staked out the hallway just outside our fishbowl. He started in the broom closet but moved to the gymnasium, which lacks a certain ambiance but more than makes up for it with a lack of arachnids.

Well, time to go shift the laundry before putting out breakfast for the crew. Today I’m staying at camp to get some things done here. I’ll appreciate the time with my family and the 2 hrs saved in commuting.