Oh yeah!

We have been so used to making do and doing without, here at the church, that we forget sometimes how far things have progressed. It brings moments of humour. For example, my husband was about to head upstairs to the bathroom when I reminded him that we now have a functioning bathroom on the lower level. Oh yeah! He'd forgotten! I fumbled my way down the stairs in the dark a few times before remembering that we've had lights installed in the stairwells. I forgot and overpacked clothing because I forgot the washing machine is hooked up now, so I can do laundry halfway through our stay. There's a stove hood vent with a functioning fan that I completely forgot to use when cooking. We're so used to doing without heat and light and other essentials that it's astonishing when things actually function the way they're supposed to. It will take some time to get used to it all, and to trust things to keep working.

There is an element of trust to it, too. Each time we drive up from the city, we wonder aloud what disasters we will encounter when we arrive. Has the sanctuary ceiling collapsed again? Has a tornado taken the whole thing out and scattered asbestos across the countryside? As soon as we get to the church, we tiptoe around and scan the whole place to look for water in the basement, a defunct sump pump, or at least a dead fridge. But no, it's all okay, everything is fine, there's nothing to fix, nothing to scramble to deal with. Everything is as it should be. There's no emergency. And that's the most astonishing thing of all! It will take getting used to.