My Sundays

Last fall I joined my church choir.  I never thought of myself as a singer until several months after I started working as a music therapist.  Now I sing and play the guitar practically every day.  I'm guessing I probably didn't sound too great my first couple of months but slowly people started telling me that I had a nice voice.  I didn't really believe the first few people but thanked them anyway.  Now I hear it more often and I guess I'm starting to believe that I sound at least decent when I sing.  So anyway, I'd been thinking about joining my church choir since Gray and I found our current church a year and a half ago.  I tend to think about things for a while before I act on them so finally I mustered up the courage to join.  I've really enjoyed adding singing with the choir to my Sunday morning ritual.  It feels completely different to sit with the choir during the church service instead of with the congregation.  The only thing I don't like is that Gray and I don't get to sit together.  Nevertheless, it is nice to be an active part of the worship going on every weekend.  Although I'm not very good at singing harmony, as an alto, being part of a community of people that love God and love music is very rewarding.  I can't think of a better way to start off my Sunday.

To switch gears a little bit.  After singing with the choir, attending coffee hour, and then rehearsing with the choir, I've developed a new Sunday ritual in the last several weeks.  I go straight from church to Wegmans to do the weekly grocery shopping.  The first time I went I said I would never do it again because there were so many people at the store.  But somehow I've found myself back there every week.  I think I like preparing for the upcoming week right after finishing church.  I also like getting the shopping done and the groceries put away by 2:00 in the afternoon.  Otherwise if I came home and then went out again to do the shopping the day would practically be over by the time I was back home.

For those of you that don't have a Wegmans near you it is a pretty unbelievable grocery store.  The first time I went I was completely overwhelmed and could hardly make a decision about what to get.  The store is huge and full of distractions.  Just to name a few of the things that seem out of the ordinary to me are a daycare for your child while you shop, a cooking coach station, an olive bar, and a model train driving on tracks suspended from the ceiling near the dairy section.  Since my initial shock at the shear size and selection I've been able to put my blinders on and just get what I need.

I think what I enjoy so much about my new Sunday ritual is that I've created a system of getting spiritually focused and gastronomically prepared for the week.