Saturday morning. Hangover gone already. I get hangovers easily, so anything that dissipates in less than two hours indicates fewer than six beers, which is consistent with last night.
I had dinner with Marie and three other couples (after first stopping at the drinking club with one of the husbands for an Anchor Steam and Killian's), then had to scamper to my kids' Vacation Bible School for its final night. That was brutal. They were holding an outdoor Mass at the park. Marie dropped me off with a bundle of blankets, while she drove home to get the non-VBS kids. I walked (swayed) down to the park and found no one. So I meandered back to Church in the muggy weather and found they were inside. I plopped down toward the back and wondered about drinking and the Eucharist. Someone once told me that you're not supposed to take the Eucharist if you've had alcohol in the past four hours, but I've never been able to confirm that. Plus, I've read about Belloc and Chesterton doing it (for non-obligatory Masses), so I figured it would be okay. (If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know; email link is on your left.)
In any event, I spent most of the Mass outside, with Max (2) and Tess (1). They're good toddlers, but they get a little wild when they're tired, and 8:00 is late for them. I walked around with them for about thirty minutes. According to the fancy electronic pedometer I started wearing yesterday, I walked nearly 2,000 steps while watching them, which is nearly a mile.
I think all mothers with little children should get one of those pedometers. They'd find it edifying. I bet the typical mother walks eight miles a day, chasing around the little ones. I logged in 14,000 steps (7 miles) yesterday, and I wasn't really trying (except for walking to work, which was about 2,100 steps). My pedometer cost $20, and it appears to be deadly accurate. If you want the model name, email link, as always, is on your left.
Until next week, may your drink chase away the summer heat.
