After work I go to the Fourth Estate Grill, where used to be the Ha’penny Lion. There’s a meet and greet for volunteers for the upcoming benefit and concert to celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. I’ve been so out of touch with the Adult Formation Committee, having been slaving over the TIMSS upgrade for so long. It’s good to try to plug back in.

Nancy Lutz is working the door, and it’s good to see her. Pat Durham greets me warmly, and it’s good to see her too, except that we see her every Sunday lately at the 8:30 mass, where she’s an EME. Maureen’s there, and it takes me a while to screw up my courage and go say hey, since she’s the Faith Formation Coordinator for the Cathedral. The one whose committee meetings I’ve been missing all these months. Happily for me, she’s still nice to me and excited that I’m going to be helping out for the benefit.

The bar has some food out for us, and I eat yummy celery and carrot sticks. I grab a few crackers, but they turn out to be like really bad or something. Too old and stale, maybe. I meet a couple of new people, new to me anyway. Mostly I talk to Ella, from the World Bank. She’s been in Washington for nine years but only recently has started to come to St. Matt’s. She’s originally from the Philippines. She goes to the 8:00 a.m. mass. Every day. I feel like such a slacker.

Monsignor is there, but he’s always surrounded by people, so I don’t get a chance to say hi. Maureen says there’s a meeting next week to discuss next steps for this big shindig.