A First Communion, the school year ending, and a happy potato (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

Two of our nieces made their First Communions this spring—one in New England and one here in Baltimore. We missed the one in New England, but I managed to get to the Mass in Baltimore where our niece received Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time. It was wonderful to be with her and her family.

I like to think that I’ve never taken for granted the ability to receive the Eucharist. But I know that I view being with Jesus in that way differently ever since the pandemic days when we couldn’t receive for a while. What an incredible gift to be able to receive Jesus every day if we would like.

Our little niece received Jesus for the first time in the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen where John and I were married and where our two boys were baptized. At the sign of peace, I turned around and saw that my godson—newly graduated from college—was at the Mass with his mother, who is the godmother of our younger son. I was full of joy to think of the grace that our families have received over the years.

~2~

One of our sons has finished his school year, and the other one finishes his this week. Having two children with totally different school schedules has gone better than I expected it would. I’ve made some mistakes and been surprised by some half-days I thought were full days and days off that I thought were days on.

But we’ve made it, and both children have had great years.

We will be heading into eighth grade and 10^th grade, and there’s a beauty to that. But let’s have summer first. And I’ll be squeezing all the summer out of this season because it’s my favorite time of year.

~3~

We have two separate air conditioning systems for our moderately sized home, and both systems died the same day last week. What are the chances of that?

Fortunately, the weather wasn’t too warm, although the air was smoky outside from the Canadian fires. We kept air purifiers going inside, especially near our pet birds, and everyone seemed to come through just fine.

When the repairman arrived, he found that the systems had died for two different reasons—one easily fixed on the spot, one not-so-easily fixed. But it’s all fixable, and thank goodness the air outside seems to be back to normal.

People say things come in threes. I’m figuring the first one was the van getting hit by a tractor-trailer. I hope the two air conditioning failures were number two and three.

~4~

Our younger son’s baseball season ended with a loss in the first round of the playoffs, but the whole season felt like an incredible victory to me. He returned to the sport after four years away and had a blast. He learned so much, had a fantastic coach and great teammates, and we had the chance to watch him play.

He had an enormous crowd of fans cheering him on at the last game, and the field was right near a McDonald’s. Somehow he persuaded me to go get him some nuggets and fries to enjoy while on the bench. It reminded me of the last game he played in 2019 where I ordered Chinese food that was delivered to the field during the game.

I hope he plays again next year. I love being a baseball mom.

~5~

Our sons both play the trumpet, but a year ago our older son started taking saxophone lessons. He’s been wanting to make the switch to the saxophone—specifically the baritone sax, which is large and has a beautiful, deep, rich tone.

He’s switching for next year, and we’ve been worrying that we would need to purchase a bari sax for him. They’re not inexpensive, and they can also be hard to find.

A few weeks ago, I turned the problem over to Blessed Carlo Acutis, the only saint I could find who seemed to have played the sax. I felt such a sense of peace talking with him. And my son’s school is going to rent him one for the next year. We might still end up buying one at some point, but this is such a relief.

~6~

I took my mother to a ladies’ tea at our older son’s high school, and they served tea out of paper teacups. Now, I absolutely need to host a tea with paper teacups. It hardly even matters what the purpose of the celebration is.

Other people might be setting goals for summer day trips or trying every flavor of snowball. I’m planning to host a tea with paper teacups.

It’s always good to have goals.

~7~

The other day when I was slicing potatoes for dinner, I realized that one of the potatoes was smiling back at me.

I love that God, in his infinite creativity, creates potatoes that make us smile—not just because they are tasty and nourish us, but also because they are smiling back at us as we make dinner.

I am always amazed by the infinite ways that God shows us his love.

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