~1~
I spent the weekend at the beach with a few friends, and it was absolutely wonderful. But by Sunday morning I was looking forward to being home with my family. I had planned to go to Mass in Ocean City, Maryland, but suddenly I had the idea to break my trip in half by stopping at Mass on the way home.
When I thought of St. Christopher’s on Kent Island, I was excited. One Lent, when we lived on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, I went to St. Christopher’s for weekday Mass on my way to my office in Annapolis. That was one of the best Lents, especially since the pastor at the time celebrated a speedy, reverent daily Mass. I saw online that the parish had an 11:15 a.m. Mass on Sundays. If I didn’t hit any traffic, I would just be able to make it.
I pulled into the parking lot as the church bells were ringing. I could feel God smiling at my excellent drive time and welcoming me to Mass.
Then I walked inside to find a large statue of St. Ann. She is my confirmation saint and someone who knows about waiting and hoping to become a mother. She was clearly standing there to greet me.
One of my favorite things about being Catholic is the confidence that I can walk into any Catholic church anywhere in the world and know that I am home.
~2~
Halfway through Mass it occurred to me how fitting it was that I had stopped at St. Christopher’s Church during my journey.
St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers, and here I was paying a visit to his namesake church during my drive home.
I know the story of St. Christopher might just be a story, but I find it so powerful to think of him carrying Christ—and how each of us carries Christ to others, sometimes without realizing we are doing so.
~3~
Visiting the beach during the fall was glorious—crisp air and clear, sunny skies, and God everywhere. I saw a butterfly on the beach, enjoying some beautiful flowers that I’ve never seen there before. I love autumn at the beach, but I don’t think I’ve ever gone this late in the season.
The time with friends was magnificent. I feel so peaceful and loved and immensely grateful to my husband who kept everything running smoothly in my absence. I came home to content children, active finches, and my incredible husband.
~4~
It was an unusual weekend for our family in that our older son had back-to-back retreats, one at his high school Thursday night and his confirmation retreat, which started Friday evening and finished Sunday. We had the opportunity to write him letters to read while on retreat, so I reached out to his sponsor and his godparents, and each of them wrote him a letter. John and I wrote individual letters, and his younger brother scrawled something on a post-it note. I’m sure his was the best.
I remember going on my confirmation retreat many years ago and opening my letters to find that my mother had written hers as a cryptogram. I had to decode it before I could understand it. While the other teens in the room were wiping away tears, I was crossing out letters and trying to interpret her message.
This time around, my letter was a little too long, so I included subheads in case he wanted to skim it instead.
~5~
We are still eating our way through my candy winnings. I hadn’t even picked up on the fact that each of the mini-Snickers has a single letter on it, but someone did.
I noticed that the letters were all sorted. Why are there so many of some letters and so few of others?
Does that happen randomly?
Guessing how many S’es are in a bag of mini-Snickers would make for a fun contest.
~6~
A couple of weeks ago, a colleague shared a sailfish story with me. I didn’t think about it much afterward. But, on the morning of a day I was going to see that colleague in person, another coworker told me she had a gift for me—and it just happened to be a sailfish pin. I believe that if someone gives you something to wear, you put it on right away, so I did. This doesn’t work with everything, but it almost always works with brooches.
Anyway, I showed up to meet my colleague wearing the sailfish pin—and I could see how astonished he was.
The timing was really the best part for me. I love how God makes those connections for us. And I love that I have a fish pin now.
~7~
One of my nieces turned 8 last week, and my father turned a bigger number. We have so many October birthdays in our extended family!
I dropped off their gifts on their porches and texted them to let them know the Birthday Fairy had stopped by.
Birthdays are the best. Now I just need to order a gift to send to my nephew in New York since his birthday is later this week.
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