How many Cathedrals are there seriously
True story. Today I had plans with my friend, Ola, to meet for mass at noon. We have been talking about it for a few days now, because I had mentioned how I really wanted to see “the Cathedral.” The Washington National Cathedral is about a mile from the law school, so I subsequently planned to head there after the service to do my homework. Anyway, it was just noon, and I jumped off the bus and headed into the Cathedral, feeling quite proud that I found it and was wearing a pretty dress and going to church on Sunday. It was breathtaking, as I find most cathedrals are, and I messaged Ola to announce my arrival. He said he had also just arrived, and we decided to meet at the back. I didn’t see him for a few minutes, but the place is pretty huge, so I texted and asked his location. He said he was to the right side where people were walking. I looked right and saw some people walking, so I followed. No Ola. I got all the way to the front right side, with no Ola sighting, and it occurred to me that maybe he meant the other right side, as oriented from the perspective of the choir. I tried crossing over, but they had started communion, so it was awkward and it took me a while. I’m not sure why it didn’t strike me that they were already giving communion and service had just begun 10 minutes before. We continued texting as I made my way around the cathedral, sending our coordinates back and forth like battleships lost in the fog. Just when I thought we had synchronized our locations, one of the ushers forced me out the back door because the choir was about to proceed. So I informed Ola and waited just outside the cathedral for him. By this time we were both pretty frustrated that it had taken nearly 20 minutes to find each other, and then Ola said something about the choir wearing blue robes. My choir was in white. Shit. At this point, I called him, and we managed to deduce that we were in completely different places: me at the Washington National Cathedral, and he at the “big cathedreal, you know, the main one with the archbishop and the painting of Jesus.” Ola is from DC, so I suppose he knows things I don’t, and for some reason the National Cathedral is not the main one to him. As it turned out, he was 20 minutes away, and the service I was in started way before noon, and I had come in halfway through. It was over by this time, so I made my way to a local cafe, grabbed Sunday brunch, and now sit in the library reading cases and preparing to write my first Fact Statement. Ola and I are going to try again next Sunday.
