One of the challenges of this Lent practice has been coming up with interesting photos and images for each blog post about writing 40 notes to 40 people in 40 days.
I’ve tried to be creative — stationery, a mailbox, the people I’m writing to, my own handwriting — but some days that’s an added challenge on top of writing a note.
This weekend, I had a plan.
My husband and I were hosting a brunch to wish some friends well as they prepare to move to Philadelphia at the beginning of May. We had a great menu planned — waffles, vegan apple pie pancakes, mini-quiches, marbled banana bread, fruit salad, mimosas. Yum! And it was yum — take my word for it.
So, I had written a note yesterday to one of the friends who is moving — and knew I would write about it for the “5 Authors 40 Days” blog. Darlene and I have known each other for about 13 years. She’s one of the reasons I was a part of a young adult volunteer program after college. Darlene was interviewing candidates for the program and she would also be part of my training.
Through the years, we’ve grown close — sharing the loss of our fathers, working together several years into our friendship, and living in the same neighborhood for a few years. I’m going to miss her and her husband. So, to drown my sorrows — and those of Darlene’s friends — we gathered everyone to eat waffles (and drink mimosas).
I had every intention of snapping a photo of the waffles — topped with everything from blueberries and strawberries to Biscoff cookie spread — for this post to give readers some variety. (And who doesn’t love photos of good food?) But brunch preparation and flipping flapjacks got the better of me. So, I’m left with an Instagram shot of the dishes in the drying rack. A sign of a well-fed group of people, I’d say.
These dishes also represent some Lenten tenacity, if you will. I had the best of intentions, for sure, with my idea for a waffle shot, but it didn’t happen. And I didn’t let that stop me from going forward. So, not matter the struggles of Lent, I’m moving forward. Another day, another note. And this Holy Week — the most intense week of the Christian year — I’m walking forward to the end of the week and beyond. Through the best of intentions and the disappointments and the fear and the betrayals of the gospel stories — and life today. Through to the hope that is Easter morning.
P.S. For those of you wondering how a blog with “40 Days” in the title is on its 42nd day, well, we’ve been counting Sundays as part of Lent (because you should), so consider these next few days the “bonus round.”