I'm a believer...

The Monkees? No - Barnacle Boy. Since before Christmas he's been longing (and saving) for a new, hard to come by video game system (that I will forbear from providing with any additional adverstising). The latest plan was to give it to Crash to celebrate his attaining teenhood. So Barnacle Boy has been working the phones to find someplace that is getting a shipment, and trying to convince me that I should go there early to get in line. ("Other parents would do that for their kids, mom."). On Saturday he found a spot that would have the object of his desire on sale at 11 am the next morning. I agreed to go to early Mass (no singing, this is indeed a sacrifice!), then pick him up from his sleepover and go. Alas, I had forgotten that I was on the schedule to cantor at the 11:15 Mass, so the plan was put on hold. I sang....and we scooted out the back almost before the last noted had died. But not so fast that I didn't stop to bow in front of the tabernacle. "What do you pray for, Mom?" "The needs of those I love and the world, my hearts desires." "Oh!"

The store had sold out in the first 15 minutes, and the Boy's eyes brimmed with tears. We went home and I went up to shed pumps and pearls. "Moooommmm!!! I found one..." Pumps, pearls and all we headed out. Success. Prayers, as it turned out, had been answered. "God answered my prayer, Mom!" He's so certain (and thankful) for the graces received, that he names the new system TGIW. Thank God it's ...well, I'm still not going to advertise for them, so you'll just have to guess!

Can you do the same thing to us as you did to the cat?

My brother (Geek Guru) and Math Man decided to reseal the roof over our sunroom this morning. Two hardware store trips and a hour later Crash Kid appears downstairs. "Mom, we've got a problem." "Mmmm?" "Fluffy got into the tar on the roof!" This is indeed a problem. Her paw is covered in black sticky stuff. I sent Crash for baby oil and baby shampoo and we took a deep breath and started in. Two applications of each potion later, I was bloodied, Fluffy was soggy, annoyed, but tar free. She stalked off to try her luck at getting onto the roof again!

Thirty minutes passes. Geek Guru and Math Man appear in the kitchen, tarred hands held high, pleading, "Can you do the same thing to us as you did to the cat?" Only if you don't use your claws, guys!

Which Father am I?

Well, maybe? St. Melito was a 2nd century bishop, fragmentary writings survive (as well as many written in his name at a much later date). I do love history and the liturgy, but refrain from confronting family members!

You’re St. Melito of Sardis! You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins. Find out which Church Father you are at The Way of the Fathers!

Milestones

When I synched my iPod tonight it popped up with a "milestone" award -- for the 100 miles of walking I'd completed more than three months ago! April is certainly a milestone month in other ways - both good and bad.

• my 50th year begins
• Crash Kid will be confirmed in the Roman Catholic tradition
• Crash becomes a teen-ager
• my first husband died 20 years ago

No markers have popped up on my screen for any of these milestones!

The Jesuit Diet

I have lost quite a bit of weight in the last nine months, about 25 pounds, and now that spring has finally manifest itself in the Middle Atlantic, I've shed my parka and people have noticed. When my neighbor asked how I did it, I told her I'd been walking 2 miles every day - rain, shine, ice or snow - and that it had been as good for my psyche as my waistline. Walking back to our yard, Crash Kid pops out with, "You should have told her you were on the Jesuit diet." Now I'm perplexed, "The Jesuit diet?" "Yeah, like last Lent!" I finally clue in. He gave up chocolate as a penance for Lent a year ago. He'd asked what I was giving up and I said nothing, but that I was trying to follow St. Ignatius' advice in the Spiritual Exercises about trying to find "the mean which [I] ought in eating and drinking" - simply being mindful of what and why I ate. I actually didn't lose much weight last Lent, in fact, but the habit of mindfullness did stick and in combination with the walking has had its effect.

I think I'm more surprised by Crash Kid's recollection of that conversation than I am by the missing pounds. Like Barnacle Boy, Crash Kid clearly pays attention!

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What? I pay attention!

Barnacle Boy was helping out in the kitchen one evening last week. He was slicing up a warm, crispy loaf of French bread.

"Mom, I broke the bread."

"That's fine, just put the pieces in the basket," I reply (frankly relieved that it's bread that been cut awry, not his finger). He returns to the task at hand, murmuring to himself. I finally tune in to what he is saying:

"...he broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is my body, which will be given up for you."

I stopped what I was doing and he looked up and said, "What? I pay attention!"

He must.