Friday and Saturday I was working in Kansas City. We were holding a special diocesan convention on Saturday to vote on a change to the diocesan rules of order to enable us to hold an online convention in November. The special convention had to be in person with appropriate physical distancing and all the associated precautions. Friday we’d set up all the AV equipment, ready for the meeting. We hoped the meeting would be short, with just the one item to vote on. It might be a short meeting, but the preparation and break-down times are the same if the meeting lasts 30 minutes or two days.
Friday night I was getting ready to go out for dinner when I received a message from Ginger. It was a bunch of dimensions. Would these fit in the trunk of my rental vehicle? (This weekend’s free rental upgrade was a Cadillac). She asked if I’d mind going to IKEA to pick up a table for her. “Sure thing, no probs, if it will fit,” says I, not knowing if the backseats laid flat at that time, and blissfully ignorant what entering an IKEA store in the midst of a pandemic entails. A few minutes in the car and I’d worked out how to lay the backseat flat and it looked like I could fit something 6ft. long and 3ft wide in the space. I was good to go. I’d go to IKEA after I’d finished work, load up, and head home.
Saturday morning, we’d finished setting everything up and everything was still working (phew!), and I checked my messages. There was one from Ginger, essentially saying she’d found a load more stuff she wanted from IKEA, and she was driving up to Kansas City.
My diocesan business successfully conducted, and all the gear packed up and put away (thanks guys!), Ginger and I had a brief chat on the phone. I’d go and sit in the IKEA parking lot, and wait for her to arrive. All I can say is, I’m glad she decided to come up. The line to get into IKEA was impressive, and I’m not sure I would have had the patience for it on my own. After an hour touring the store and spending an awful lot of money (this is all for Ginger’s business, so, fortunately, it’s all tax-deductible), we were ready for another game of IKEA Tetris. The Cadillac swallowed an impressive amount of stuff, and the remainder fitted in our little SUV — I still miss our minivan on occasions like this.
We stopped for dinner around half-way back at Clinton, and when we got home, we indulged in a bottle of wine to celebrate Ginger’s upcoming studio remodeling.
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