Part 12
Friday was
their last work day and they finished at around 4:00 p.m. Later that evening, Fr. Jim said a special
Mass for all of the volunteers and donors who played a part in renovating Mrs.
Dunlap’s house. About an hour before
Mass while everyone was packing up and organizing at the church, Anna found Fr.
Jim and asked if he could hear her confession.
She had not been to Reconciliation since her return to the church and
she had not been going to Communion.
Fr. Jim was
happy to oblige and in about 25 minutes, she told him the story of her life
since she had last been to the sacrament.
There were way too many offenses to list like a grocery store reminder;
she knew she had veered way off the path.
The guilt that she had been carrying on her shoulders was greatly
lessened. Not gone entirely, but Fr. Jim
told her that she should return to Reconciliation again soon, that it might
take time. He told her he was rejoicing
for her decision to come back. He told
her that someone must have been praying very hard for her.
Mass was beautiful. The church glowed with the evening sun; as
she stood, kneeled or sat down, her sore muscles and back were kind of her stripes
of accomplishment from a week’s worth of work.
Anna went to Communion and when she returned to her pew, she felt tears
stinging her eyes. It had been an
amazing week. She felt whole for the
first time in so long, it was completely new.
“Anna, are
we riding home in Mrs. Licci’s car?” Erin asked.
“Yep, we are
going to do exactly what we did on the way down. Are you packed up?” Anna said.
“I think
so. Will gathered up some scraps of wood
from the job and he has one for each of us.
As a memento of our trip, he said.
And I guess we are stopping at Mrs. Dunlap’s house tomorrow morning on
our way home,” Erin said.
That night,
Anna slept hard and the early morning alarm even though it was set at a
reasonable 7:00 a.m. still jarred her.
The smell of sausage and coffee wafted over to the church. Everyone hurried to get ready.
After
breakfast, the group said their goodbyes to Fr. Jim and packed up the
cars. Will asked everyone to wait for a
minute, and he and Fr. Jim came out with pieces of wood as Erin had told
Anna. Fr. Jim blessed the scraps of wood
and said that they were to be a reminder of a special week and of the blessings
of service in life. He said that
whenever we looked at the scrap of wood, whether we carved it, stained it,
painted it, or left it be, it would take us right back to Kentucky and that he
would welcome any of us back for a visit.
Fr. Jim was
a hugger, so everyone got a hug, even the boys who were a little reluctant at
first until he boomed, “Get over here.
Men are allowed to hug, you know.”
Then, with
beeping horns and open windows with arms coming out of all of them in waves,
the group left the parish and headed to Mrs. Dunlap’s house, by this time a
very familiar trip.
As they
pulled up, Mrs. Dunlap and the grandchildren were outside on the porch, sitting
in their chairs and having something to drink.
It was already warm, like August often is. The children were smiling from ear to
ear. Mrs. Dunlap wanted everyone to see
the inside of the house since an army of people from church had come on Friday
evening to put all of her furniture back.
She said they even helped her put away silverware and dishes. A few
new rugs here and there made the place really comfortable. In the light of early day, Mrs. Dunlap’s home
was unbelievably better. Some of the
teens had cameras and they took pictures of all of us with Mrs. Dunlap and her
grandchildren.
Mrs. Dunlap shushed everyone and told them, "Y'all came here and did a wonderful thang. But y'know, it isn't just how nice it looks. It's that ya came at all. I just can't thank ya enough. Y'all are the best. What d'ya say, kids?" The two children echoed their grandmother, "Thank ya."
But it was time to go. Ohio was a long way up the road.
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