My biggest mistake in this ridiculous Lenten process was telling my children. I can’t approach the drive-thru without loud reminders of my commitment! Ah, well.
Some days I drive by Starbucks and think that it was a wimpy exercise, of course I can stay away from Starbucks. Then, 10 days later I feel resentful that I’ve missed a ritual I enjoy and I pull into the drive-thru with gusto.
We’re nearing the end of Lent and I’m happy to say that I picked the right discipline. It has been a challenge to me, for the same reasons any spiritual discipline is a challenge. There is no one there to pat you on the back. But, somehow, someway, the daily discipline of prayer and journaling keeps other things on my mind besides me. It is at times exhausting and irritating. And, at times, I receive a nudge to pray for someone or phone someone that I could only know through prayer. Those moments keep me believing that there is value to soldier on.
I decided to give up going to Starbucks every afternoon after teaching, before picking up my son from school, for Lent. It’s a ritual that I enjoy and I find it nearly impossible to give it up!
Here in State College there is one drive thru Starbucks, the rest of them you actually have to get out of the warm car and walk inside. Since Lent, I have been getting out of the car and walking in under the auspices of purchasing Valentine’s Gifts, buying whole beans for the troops and other things that would be obnoxious from the drive thru.
Am I sensing Jesus’ sacrifice more keenly when I deny myself this daily treat? I don’t know! But my head is killing me from caffeine withdrawals.
Today, I passed by twice, but I could still smell it.
In Forward’s “Day by Day” Flannery O’Connor is attributed with saying that “when we know the truth it will make us odd.”
Well, my husband is going to be ordained on Saturday. And, that truth makes us odd.
But, I’m okay with that. As the sacramental moment approaches I have found myself more and more nervous. I don’t know why? This process has been bubbling along for years but now the day has arrived and I am afraid.
In our 14 years of married life we have shared sacramental moments. The first, our wedding. Most couples’ first lesson in that a wedding is a community event, that it is larger than ourselves. Also, the birth of a child and the death of a loved one, adds legs to the stool and kicks others out. But, their mark remains. The stool is always wobbley when someone leaves. They are always there in spirit.
The ordination is another sacrament. It is the larger church community coming together to affirm the gifts of this person.
Marriage has been under fire for years, but people still get married. The Episcopal Church is aching under its own weight, and yet people are still called. It says to me that there is still hope, hope in the best and for the best.
We journeyed down to Philadelphia on Friday to the passport office. We arrived at
8:45 a.m. and the line was already across the front of the building and down a full city block.
Everybody in line was leaving the country within three days and everyone had an 8:30 a.m. appointment. There was some security and a jovial worker came wheeling out a little trolley to have everyone write down their names and birthdays on it.
Luckily, by the time we made it to the front of the line they had already confirmed that all of our paperwork was in fact in Philadelphia and we were asked to return at 2:30. (We had applied for passports on April 1)
The passport office sits next to the historic district. We went to the relatively new Liberty Museum which has an interactive section on tolerance. It also has three Marc Chagall’s in the religion section. We also visited the Ben Franklin museum and watched the short film of his life.
When we returned to the passport office and waited in line on the opposite side of the building I felt a little like I had done standing in line to receive my degrees. That suddenly, at the last moment, someone would pull me out of line and explain that there had been a problem and I needed one more course before I could receive my degree.
Thankfully, we received our passports by 3:30 in the afternoon. As long as you had all of your documents it was relatively painless, and surprisingly organized.
Like millions of other Americans, we haven’t received our passports yet and we are set to leave on Tuesday! I have spent late evenings on the phone with the passport operators trying to make sure we have the golden booklets before Tuesday.
Tonight we have to phone to see if they have been processed yet. If they haven’t they will schedule an appointment for us to go in person, but they can only schedule an appointment if you are leaving within three days and have proof of your airline ticket.
I can only imagine how it is to work for the passport agency right now!
I used to think 40 was old, but now that I’m officially 40 I can say it isn’t old. We had a blast of a party with all of my family at the beach over the weekend and we’re all married (last brother is engaged and marries this summer) and breeding great little people who love to laugh as much as we do.
We told stories about our formative years, my rebellious years, former boyfriends, car trouble and awkward clutzy moments that have become family folklore.
I made a list of some milestones today: 17 years sober; 14 years married; 9 years a mother to Izzy; 3 years a mother to Mack; 2 years UM was published; almost 2 years from Katrina.
In Anna Quindlen’s recent Newsweek column she said that her children have done more than anything else to “excavate my humanity” and it is so true. My children touch my soul like nothing else and it truly has given me a glimpse of God’s unselfish love for us. A simple enjoyment in our very existence.
We drove home from the beach late on Monday night and I squished myself between Izzy and Mack’s carseat in the back. Chris played songs from the 80s that we still know all too well. What is more fun than singing “Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind! Hey Mickey, Hey Mickey!” at the top of your lungs? Chris laughs because he is the only one that can sing on key. It was a great birthday.
You may have seen One on American Idol Gives Back, Bono even made an appearance.
One.org is a grassroots lobbying organization where you can sign letters and email them to your representatives to support legislation that supports debt relief and various poverty issue in this country and abroad. I have been surprised by how reponsive the House and Senate offices have been, and how accessible their staff is to understanding the various issues. I think sometimes we don’t realize how important our voices, and votes, actually are.
This weekend is the annual Blue-White football scrimmage here at PSU. But there is an honorable movement among Penn State students on Facebook. They are calling for Penn State fans to wear Maroon and Orange in memory of those slain at VaTech. So if you will be here this weekend let’s make it a Hokie day.
On NPR this morning Steve Inskeep interviewed the Bordelons in St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans. Simon has kept in touch with them throughout the year and they are irrepressible. They have two FEMA trailers in their front yard, a house full of sheet rock, and a checkerboard neighborhood. But, this doesn’t stop them from cooking up a feast today and giving thanks. They haven’t lost hope and that is inspiring.
The turkey is in the oven and the Macy’s Day parade just began! My husband’s family is joining us today and this is one of the strangely beautiful and tasty recipes on the table:
Great Grandma McNamara’s Date Nut Tapioca Pudding
Description:
They say it’s a salad, but it tastes an awful lot like a desert to me!
Ingredients:
4 C Water
1 1/2 C Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp. White Sugar
3/4 C Tapioca
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 C Chopped Nuts (Optional, but then it is a Date Nut Salad!)
1 1/2-2 C Dates
Directions:
1) Boil water, Brown Sugar, and White Sugar
2) Add Tapioca in above, cook till thick.
3) Add Vanilla, Nuts, Dates
4) Chill, top with Whipped Cream and dot with Maraschino cherries.
5) “Serve in a beautiful crystal bowl,” Mae E. McNamara
Number Of Servings: A bunch.
Preparation Time: 2 hrs w/ help from toddler
Happy Thanksgiving!
I heard back from the lady who helps to administer the FEMA trailer park in Baker, Louisiana. From an earlier post we heard how people are isolated and hungry. For those who can help this Thanksgiving she writes:
I am grateful for your help in providing monetary donations for a Thanksgiving Feast for Renaissance Village Families!
Make checks out to: Baker Charitable Foundation
Send checks to: City of Baker
Att: Mayor Rideau
P.O. Box 707
Baker. LA 70704-0707
Best regards,
Miranda Restovic
