My place of work

Hello all,

So I had to go into work today, a Sunday, from 9:00 A.M. to noon and was none too pleased about it when I woke up this morning suffering from 'Spring Forward' sleep deprivation after having failed to go to bed early last night...failed miserably actually, try 1:15 A.M. 'Spring Forward' time. So my body thought it was 12:15 when I put my light out and 6:00 A.M. when I got up, ouch...Plus it was cloudy and misty out and when i finally made it out the door, on time may I add, my bus which was supposed to come at 8:52 went by just before I got to the bus stop...at 8:47. What a jerk, eh? So I started walking to the metro station at a pretty good clip and had the bus in view the whole way there, figuring he would stay stopped at the station for five minutes to let his schedule catch up with him, which is what they should normally do and always do when I'm sitting on the bus GOING HOME and just want to get there already. Nope, he just kept right on going. DOUBLE JERK!!! Plan B for when the bus system fails me miserably, I took the metro from Snowdon to Côte-des-Neiges station and walked to work from there. Unfortunately instead of being on time to work as I should have been, I punched in at 9:18 . Eeek, can't wait for my boss to see that tomorrow, luckilly I'm normally very punctual, so she shouldn't be too hard on me over it. Anyhow, I got to work out of breath and sweaty and grumbly, but my mood improved quite quickly once I was there. It was Sunday, people were cheerful and prayerful and the place was even more full of positive, hopeful energy than it normally is on a weekday. Yup, you read right, prayerful. For those of you who don't know, I work at St-Joseph's Oratory and have for the past 6 & 3/4 years (will be 7 on May 28th). I love my job, absolutely love it and no matter what other job I do and how cool it is (I recently started working as a tour guide at the McCord museum as well) I will never love another job the way I love this one. How can I not love when, like today, I walk in there grouchy and within minutes have a genuine smile on my face. The Oratory has brought me so much over the years, comfort when I've been going through tough times, wonderful friends, amazing colleagues, but most of all it showed me what truly makes me happy in life: people. I love being around them, working with them and sharing my love for the Oratory and it's story with them. I truly have a passion for the Oratory and the goal its founder Brother Andre had when he built it, to give the people of Montreal and the world a place to come and find hope that their problems, no matter how big or small, would be solved if they just had enough faith. That's what I like to share with people I give tours to at the Oratory, how the Oratory started out as a small glimmer of hope in one small, frail man's heart and grew to become a beacon of hope for people of all ages, cultural backgrounds and religions (I have given tours to buddhists, Sikhs, Protestants and people of the Jewish faith as well as Muslim children).

So folks, if ever you're having a hard time, and you're open to the idea give the Oratory a try. You don't even have to pray or be a big time believer, or even a believer at all, you can just come and sit quietly for a while and think, you won't find a better place for it. The Oratory is huge and as long as it's not between March 10th and the 19th, Easter or Christmas, I can guarrantee you'll be able to find a nice, quiet corner somewhere and you'll come out feeling at least a bit more peaceful :o)