The stress is not new; only the situations and details ever change. It is a Monday morning as I write this — Inauguration Day, in fact. I probably will not be able to watch the 47th president of the United States sworn in. I would love to, but my schedule may not permit it. I obviously have a newspaper column to write, but there is much more going on as well.
I will be doing counseling with a parishioner just a while before the time President Trump takes the oath of office; my duties as a pastor have to take priority over my desires as a political junkie. I am also dealing with the rather weighty matter of our church property getting ready to be a state construction zone. There will be a new interchange installed at the intersection just below us, resulting in the loss of our driveway, a new road being paved into the back of our property and the possible loss of the ballfield we have worked so hard on and spent so much money on over the last year. The original plans we were shown had the road coming in much closer to the parking lot, so we did the ballfield work accordingly. It was only after we had gotten all of that done that we found the engineers had shifted the road, putting its path through that area. We are likely going to be contacting legal representation to see if we can get a bit of accommodation on that; even a small shift would be a pretty big help.
On the lower side of the property, a paperwork issue from 12 years ago has arisen. That is going to require a different lawyer and a different bit of headache.
Yesterday, a kid bit another kid. Both sets of parents handled things really well, but it still caused some extra stress for me in making sure everything came out OK. I also spent all afternoon counseling a few others who needed some help and guidance.
I have not slept well for a few days. You need to be able to breathe to sleep (unless you intend to not ever wake up), and I have not been able to breathe for a few days; it feels like some goblin stuffed my entire head and nasal cavities with enough cotton to maintain a pillow factory.