Day 9

It's Friday, and our last full day of volunteering on the St. Clare floor starts at 7:30. Today we say goodbye to the Irish and will welcome an English pilgrimage this afternoon. We work very hard today to get things ready for our new pilgrims, and don't leave until after 10:00. The good news is there will be no lunch service, as they will arrive later in the day. We aren't needed until 6:30 tonight!

With all this time off, Angela and I decide to try to get into the baths. Neither of us have been on our last few visits, so off we go. Our Lady must have been waiting for us, as the lines are very short, and we are in and out in about 45 minutes. It is a very emotional experience, and I find myself crying. The Piscines building is very warm and the ladies who help me are smiling and warm as well. They even speak English. A stroke of luck! Angela goes first and is a nervous as I am. We are holding hands and praying while awaiting our turns. The water in the bath is fed from the spring and is between 10-12 degrees all the time. I don't know what that is in Farenheit, but only that it was so cold it literally took my breath away. The ladies waited for me while I took some deep breaths before going down into the bath all the way. Once in, it was over in a few seconds and they were asking Mary to pray for me. I was so glad we went!!

We have lunch with George at a favorite cafe-a delicious American style burger and fries with a Coke. YUM! This is quite a change from the cafeteria style food at the volunteer cafeteria.

Angela helps me find an old friend, Vi, who I met on one of my first trips to Lourdes. I left her address at home, but have the street name and an idea of where the place is, sort of. Angela is relentless, though, and it pays off when we see Vi's surname under a doorbell near where I thought she lived. Vi is an English retiree who relocated to Lourdes, and was the first person to hear about and then meet George, my soon to be husband-to-be. We have a quick visit with Vi and decide to meet up for lunch tomorrow when the whole gang can come.

We welcome our English pilgrims at supper and 2 girl helpers from the group come to work with us in the dish room. We get Traci and Kathy trained up quickly, no problem. But the pilgrims have been traveling all day and are in no hurry to eat so we don't get to our dinner until 8:00, No one from our group is there. 😔 We had decided to sing in the choir for the candle-light rosary procession tonight and head for the steps of the basilica after a quick bite. This is one of my most favorite things to do at Lourdes, and I am so excited to be here!!!😃  Again no one from our group is there, and I am beginning to think we forgot to tell THEM we had decided to sing. Singing means standing during the entire procession and I question the wisdom of this decision, but they begin and it's too late to change our minds. The hundreds of candles glowing in the night, and all the pilgrim voices singing and praying together are beautiful, and I am reminded why I love being part of this. But on this night nothing is sung in English-only Latin. We have the words and I even know some of them, but I want to sing my favorite songs in English, and I am disappointed. 😒 I am NOT used to this feeling in Lourdes; it just doesn't feel right. After the rosary procession is over, we decide to stop for a Coke hoping to bump into George, Denis, or Linda. No luck, though. It's been a really long day and I take my disappointed self to bed hoping tomorrow will be better.