Catching Up – My Domestic Church

• My fourth son, Noah, is getting married this month. He was born in this house – literally! And I have been lucky enough to have him live here while he commuted to college and then work from home. So it will be very strange to have him living somewhere else after all this time. I told him it will be like the TARDIS without Dr. Who, the Batcave without Batman … pick your metaphor.
• It is also going to feel weird not to have a young man or boy living here. My oldest son is 33. So for the first time in over three decades, we are a family of primarily females and Mr. Pete is totally outnumbered.
• Fortunately, or un (depending on your perspective) Noah was not able to find a place that would allow him to take his dog. So 14-year-old Sophie is staying here. She ADORES Noah. She mopes and sighs when he is not here. It’s going to be so pathetic to watch her.

• The other thing is I’m not sure if I will be able to walk her as much as I should since my knee is still giving me a problem – not every day, but some days I live in fear of it giving out. But Sophie is starting to slow down a bit. Maybe we can get by walking only 1/2 a mile instead of the entire route!
• In the build-up to the wedding, I am texting my kids and daughters-in-law with a different family wedding picture every day and a little story to go with it. Noah thanked me for being his hype man! Anyway, one of the photos I sent that the DILs really liked was this one of my Aunt Opal and Uncle Paul on their wedding day! They married in April of 1933. Isn’t this a pretty dress!?

• Izzy is not in the wedding party, but she has been working very hard for the wedding. She made all of the table centerpieces and she did all of the boutonnieres. She also fixed a very cute bridal statue I had that had fallen into disrepair, she is painting my St. Frances statue so that it will look good in the backyard, and she helped paint a room at Gabe’s house so Sam and his wife have a place to stay during the wedding weekend.

• This weekend, one week before my own son’s wedding, I am running a wedding at church for another couple. This is a wedding in the old Latin Rite, which in some ways is super easy for me! I watched several videos on it though to make sure I knew what I was doing.

• Cross country practice is in full swing. Watching Rosie run I am just seething over the poor coaching that quite literally affected her health over the past three years. We have a new coaching staff this year. They are not super competitive, but they are compassionate and realistic, and kind. At this point, that might be better.

• And for the first time in literally five years, I got to see and hug my best friend and her husband.