Gathering Is Almost Over

[Tonight's fundraiser: beautiful men with purses collect pledges during dinner. Thanks, Adam and Charles!]

I wish there was time to personally enjoy this gathering. Here's what today looked like, roughly:

7:30 - (slept in late) tea
8:00 - breakfast and chat with a friend
9:00 - bookkeeping: processing expenses
10:00 - bookkeeping: processing income
11:00 - strategizing and finding volunteers for tonight's fundraising
12:00 - preparing for finance meeting
1:00 - finance meeting teleconference
1:30 - lunch
2:00 - proposal prep for next week's semi-annual meeting
4:30 - work with cook to budget final weekend food purchases
5:00 - chat with a friend about another proposal for next week
6:00 - pull donations and registrations from lock boxes, tabulate income
7:00 - dinner and fundraising
9:00 - sleep

And that's pretty much how every day of the gathering looks for me. No frolicking in the river, no heartfelt discussions on how any of this feels, no ruminating with friends on the future of our tribe. (And no weaving, which means I'll be doing double-time once it's over.) Just lots of thankless volunteer work. I'm tired.