Fr. Pickwick commented on the wide range of job skills he needed the other day, as he went downstairs to start a woodworking project for the church, after serving Liturgy in the morning, then creating the weekly bulletin, and posting an article online: “Being a priest is an odd job, you know.”

I thought about this as I planned supper and helped one small Pickwick in the bathroom, while another flitted past me clad entirely (and only) in scarves and said “Hi Grandma!” theatrically, another was attempting to trim the front bushes with a plastic butterknife wearing a ballet leotard and striped leggings, and another was weeping over the fate of a drowned moth in our tiny fish pond. I wonder what it is like to have an odd job.