Allergic to Joy and Peace?

RantWoman is in the throes of final preparation for the Pacific Northwest Quaker Womens Theology Conference . RantWoman supposes she should have made clear somewhere that she is on the Planning committee. RantWoman is excited that the moment is upon us. Plus, boy does RantWoman NEED some Conference.

--Take a lunch break from today's round of speaking plainly at a geekfest about something RantWoman is passionate about. Even if RantWoman's geek hardware does not measure up to lots of others geekware, be like every other geek in the room and check email for last-minute crises. Thanks God for diverting anything unmanageable.

--Forward an email with another reflection paper: Dear Women, if your paper isn't done by now, just bring it with you!

--Email check-in to one Friend whose email bounce messages RantWoman kept overlooking. RantWoman had to borrow someone's eyes to find a typo in the email in the database. Friend had already gone to the website and found what was needed.

--Check with one Friend: she had already gotten the papers despite RantWoman not following up for days and days.

--Last round of email about a transportation request from the registration process that had fallen through the cracks. Do not even try to solve one thread from earlier email; figure the requester can speak up herself if the issue is as RantWoman first read it instead of an alternate simpler reading. Thanks God for things lining up.

--Email Personal Friend in response to an inquiry: yes the site has Wi-Fi. RantWoman thinks DO NOT spend all your free time doing homework. If you feel you must do this, RantWoman may go all big sister on you and suggest you consider whether your schedule THIS YEAR includes sufficient time for both the conference and homework. Maybe RantWoman will suggest this, as the next in a series of eldering emails. Maybe RantWoman will just pray for an absense of opportunities to elder in public and wisdom to set an appropriate spiritual tone in her own comportment. RantWoman does not even care whether Personal Friend might think this is no fun!

--Note the email with the correct time to meet one's ride on the ferry.

--Run two favorite afghans through the laundry for the bring afghans to the worship space request. The afghans are acrylic yarn and will do fine; the laundering is needed because it has not happened for YEARS and the afghans have been through a lot, not all of which should be shared with others no matter what the website invitation says. Forego fabric softener, first because that is a RantWoman norm and second because Snap, Crackle and Pop will be doing primo static electricity duty.

--Assemble Thwack the Badly Behaved White Cane, his companion Thwack, and his other companion Thwack. Decide whether Thwack the Outdoor needs reinforcement from Thwack the Beat-up and Really outdoor who might be a more logical candidate for, say, mucking through baby bear scat on a trail near the retreat center. Decide whether Thwack the Indoor and slightly more Demure should tag along for the exercise. Decide whether Thwack or the other Thwack or the other Thwack are giving interviews. Favorite themes include: Gender Identity and Misplaced Gallantry, The Peace Testimony and Poorly Driven Vehicles, The White Cane and Total Confusion, Inner Light While Cursing Unmanageable Outer Light.

--Decide which luggage option will best contain Three Inches of Psalms, favorite afghans, and clothes for the weekend. Extra credit for optimizing loads for legs of trip on public transit.

--Make mental list of attendees one hopes are covered by particular layers of joy and peace. Upon realizing that one is hogging a lot of room in line oneself, center, breathe, worship, lather, rinse, repeat--and do it with fragrance-free shampoo in solidarity with several women with chemical sensitivities. Consider the possibility that joy and peace may need mighty winds of transformation and just be open to movements of Spirit.

--Consider the dynamics of mentoring and being mentored. Maybe think twice or three or four times about offering mentoring about every bad idea that crosses one's mind. This includes for instance neditations about whether "May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits" is an acceptable blessing among Quakers. There are nowhere near 1000 camels around ... , so does this even count?

--Give the feline Staff an extra long session of petting and shedding because I always miss her when I am gone. Finish the feeding directions for RantMom and email request to neighbors to let her in when she buzzes to feed the cat.

If you signed up, RantWoman is really looking forward to seeing you and matching your presence with your papers; if you did not sign up, RantWoman thanks you for any and all prayers.