Fatherless Day

The boys and I went to Anne’s Place for a League of Friends lunch. This lunch was a Father’s Day present for me, since I am the stand-in father, from Pam and Steve and Maureen. I guess they didn’t want us to be alone on the first Sunday without Nick, for which I was enormously grateful. We arrived on time at 12.30, and Pam and Maureen were receiving the guests and taking in any outstanding monies etc, so I went and sat at a table on my own. The boys disappeared into Castle Gardens with some friends. I felt completely alone and like a total spare part, until Elza and Sarel arrived and I moved tables to sit with them. We kept seats for Pam, Maureen and Steve, and the boys, and from then on the afternoon was great. We had good conversation, the food was excellent and the puddings were super yummy. After lunch there was a raffle (good thing Elza and I were paying attention and watching Steve’s tickets, who was sharing an anecdote during the calling of the numbers and would have entirely missed his prize). Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, including me! Church in the evening was good, although it hit me hard not to have Nick there and I had to blink back tears. Steve led the worship and then preached on justification, doing an excellent job. We had quite a full house – 28 people in all!