On the Last Day of an Accreditation Visit

We have had one day of our accreditation visit; today is day 2, the last day.  I don't want to say too much about the visit now.  It seems to be going well, but I don't want to jinx anything.

Let me just record a few things, and I'll say more about the visit in the days to come.  A few years ago, when the auditors came, I had closed toe shoes, which became excruciating during the first day of the visit, and I changed into more comfortable sandals.

Those same sandals were the ones that I wore for the first part of yesterday's visit.  They became excruciating, so I changed into flatter, wider, more comfortable sandals around noon.  I'm trying not to read too much into this shoe situation.  It might have been the same regardless of the shoes I wore.  I hit 10,000 steps by 1:00.

Last night was the kind of night where aches and pains woke me up.  Was it the shoes?  The cold I've been fighting off?  The last minute set up?  The weeks leading up to the last minute set up?

It is strange to be going through an accreditation visit while fighting a cold.  It's the kind of head cold, where I'm very aware of my sinuses.  In the wee small hours of Sunday morning, I got up and made a cup of chocolate mint hot tea.  I did go back to sleep, with my fingers at my face, inhaling the chocolate mint smell that reminded me of old friends and Christmas.

On Sunday morning, I dreamed that my grandmother was preparing breakfast for the accreditation team.  In real life, of course that couldn't happen.  For one thing, my grandmother has been dead for years.  And for another thing, it wouldn't be ethical.  Or practical.  And of course, there's the death aspect.

Still, it was a dream that made me smile when I woke up.  One of my friends at church said she thought it was a visit from my grandmother to let me know that she was with me.  While I'm not sure that I believe that the dead visit us in this way, I'm not sure that they don't.  It was an interpretation that comforted me.

One doesn't need to believe in visits from the dead to hear what my subconscious mind is saying.  And my conscious mind is saying that it's time to make the final preparations at home so that I can go home to make the final preparations at school:  buying some Diet Coke for the team, replenishing the candy dishes, setting out some more snacks, making sure there are napkins and other paper goods.

Let me take a minute and offer up a prayer:  for those of us who are being judged, whether it be by external auditors or inner voices, be with us today and every day.