1. Cross Country Season is almost at an end. Rosie’s regular season finished last week and over the next weeks we have Districts, and then hopefully Regionals, and out there as an extreme long shot- States for Noah!
I’m trying to soak all of this in and enjoy every moment of it, because next year Noah will be in college and I don’t know if he will run for sure, and if he does I don’t know how often I will get to see him. So it’s just a little bittersweet this year.
2. As we shift from summer into fall I’m finding that I have to change my exercise routine again. The long walks will be over for a while and the exercise videos in my basement beckon. And I have a ton of new videos that I inherited from a friend of mine who taught Jazzercise for years – so in a lot of ways that will be like going home too.
Still, if I had to choose venues, I’d pick the walking trail on a nice summer day instead of my basement any time! Plus, in order to have time for school and babysit Miss C., I am either going to have to get up and exercise super early – or wait until the afternoon when my kids and their friends are coming in and out of the house – neither is a good solution.
3. We had an opportunity to do another craft show. Readers might remember that Izzy did a show at a recent street fair and only sold a few things, probably because it rained hard most of the day.
Interestingly, Rosie has taken Izzy’s handmade jewelry stuffed into a little purse and has been selling them to her friends and team mates! She takes them wherever she goes and has now sold more than Izzy did at her actual booth.
I have always been able to kind of guess what kind of careers my children were headed towards when they were young – right now I think Rosie’s career path might lead towards business and sales! What a good team these two sisters would be – creative/ and marketing!
4. I had to watch Miss C on Thursday, which meant that I unfortunately had to take her to the funeral. We got there later than I wanted to because her dad got a flat tire and so I had to drive around to find them and transfer her into my car. Then, because of the huge crowd, I had to park about a block away and walk with my dress shoes on. We entered the church through the door closest to the sacristy and when I looked up I saw Father’s back to me as he was giving instructions to the servers. They hadn’t even lined up yet.
Whew!! I wasn’t late!!
So Miss C and I started walking quickly to the back. I wasn’t even going to attempt to find a pew – I was headed straight to the cry room at the back of the church. Miss C was being very cooperative, holding my hand and walking quickly.
When I looked down at her to smile, I saw the SWOOSH of Father’s vestments right behind her. I mean directly behind her. Despite my huge head start, Father and the procession had caught up to us and we were now holding them back.
You know that scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, where Harrison Ford is running from that big rolling rock and you wonder why he just doesn’t go to the side and let the rock roll past him? Well I know why. It’s because your fight or flight response kicks in.
And that’s what happened to me and Miss C. I saw Father’s vestments and I didn’t even think about going to the side or picking her up, I could only think, “WE HAVE TO GO FASTER!!!” And we did. That poor little kid’s legs were moving like egg beaters as we scurried down the side and finally, blessedly, got to the back door where we could duck inside and let them all go by.
AFTERWARDS, I met up with my sister who was also at the funeral mass. We greeted each other and spoke about some other things and then she asked me when I saw her in the crowd.
“Oh, I saw you coming back from communion. When did you see me?” I queried.
Sis replied, “I saw you at the beginning of mass holding up Father and the entire procession. He did not look pleased.”
Gulp – I’m so embarrassed. I just hope my granddaughter does not have nightmares about a priest chasing her with her grandma through the church! or maybe that’s just me?
5.This article about Women and Pain really spoke to me, probably because I am so guilty of denying the pain of other women – specifically my mother’s pain during her last few years. Part of it was because mom was a bit of a malingerer, and part of it was because I was raised with the example of my grandmother’s stoicism. In my grandma’s world, real women don’t acknowledge pain. We push past it or through it or ignore it. That’s how she raised us.
Part of it was also because I couldn’t imagine anything ever being seriously wrong with my mother and I couldn’t imagine her ever not being in my life. And because of that I don’t think I took my mother’s feelings as seriously as I should have. I hated to hear that she wasn’t feeling well or that her appetite was off because it scared me. I didn’t listen which is all she really wanted – because getting old and being sick is scary. I get it now and I have so many regrets.
6. So dear reader, here is where I could use your opinion. I always thought that if you recognized a sin in yourself, even if it happened years ago, you need to confess it. I’ve heard stories of people coming to confession after 10, 20, 50 or more years and confessing everything in one long session. I thought that was what you were supposed to do. And since I recognized this deficit while reading the aforementioned article, and because I was truly sorry for it, I took it to the confessional – where the priest soundly scolded me for confessing something that wasn’t a real sin. So color me confused?
7. Lastly I have just completed my 2nd year of going gluten free! It hasn’t been easy but here are the books that have really helped me.
