Elena 
Well as days go, this one was certainly a memorable one! I loved watching Calvin swim this morning. He told me that he had nothing to lose and that he was just going to go all out for it… and he did!!! I thought that was just awesome! That he could take the lead in his heat and keep it was just unbelievable. Dropping 30 seconds left me speechless. It proved to me though that this kid REALLY CAN ACHIEVE HIS GOALS WHEN HE MAKES UP HIS MIND TO DO IT!! As his mother I find that somewhat reassuring. The other big change that has come over this kid is that he was starting to grieve the end of the swim season because the work outs will come to an end. That tells me he has developed some discipline and that pleases me as well. I think this year is going to be a key in his maturity!
Pre Cana was interesting. You know, that’s always a crap shoot. You’re speaking to all of these young couples and you don’t know a darn thing about any of them. You don’t know if you’re reaching them or not. This year, because of Calvin’s swimming they moved us to after lunch which we were very grateful for. We’ve always spoken just BEFORE lunch the previous two years and I think that’s just a bad time slot.
This year, because we were right after lunch, we FINALLY got some comments on the evalulation sheets. Several people said that they liked the personal stories we told. That’s good. That’s one of the things I always like when I hear a speaker is when they share their personal stories. Since I am drawn to that style, I tried to incorporate it into our talk. A few people said they didn’t like the stories, they want the facts only. Well, you can’t please everyone.
One guy said that the talk was too long and didn’t hold his interest. He liked the money talk better. I’m not sure we are the talk he was really ready to hear at this point in his life.
A young woman wrote that she was very concerned that we said artificial birth control wasn’t appropriate in a sacramental marriage. She said marriage was about the joy of sex and that not everyone could use NFP. Maybe she’ll do some more research on that.
Another couple said that morality had no place in a marriage and that marriage was about two people wanting to be together and share their lives. Well – good luck with that! Let me know how that works out for ya.
The one that really caught my eye was a comment from a young woman that said, “Don’t talk about dead babies.” I do speak quite a bit about Raphael at the end of my talk and it’s quite personal. Apparently she missed the part where I said that God had taught me something through all of my children, but particularly through the suffering of a loss. If by chance she were to read this blog I guess I’d say after the wedding cake and the candles, and the pretty dresses, real life starts. Not all of it is pretty. Not all of it is fun. Some of it sucks. But what makes any of it useful or gives it value is what you can learn from it and how it makes you grow. If you can’t learn or grow from it then you’ve started to die. I’d also tell her that I made up my mind that as his mother, I was going to use my son’s short life to bear witness. Sorry if she couldn’t relate to it.
I wish we could give the talk a couple of times a year, to really fine tune it. But for now it’s on hold until next year. I have to put that in the back of my mind now, an get ready for tomorrow, and for one more week or two of swimming!
Please browse my Amazon sales and eBay items!