Praying for souls, autumn thoughts, a rosary and a reunion (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

During this month when we pray for All Souls, one of my favorite traditions is filling our prayer basket with the names of loved ones who have died. Every day we pull a name and pray for that person (or people, in some cases) that day.

I didn’t have a chance to fill the basket until this past weekend, but God works outside of time, and he knows how busy life is.

It adds so much to my day to have a specific intention. It also helps me keep perspective. And I love reaching out to people to let them know we pulled their family member’s name out of the basket.

~2~

This has been such an incredibly busy fall. I live with this belief that the busy days we are experiencing are an anomaly and soon enough everything will settle into a more normal rhythm. But I think this might just be the way that life is since it shows no sign of slowing.

I am grateful for the fullness. We have had an incredible fall, especially with my older son’s competition marching band schedule—and their amazing success. They took second place in the national championships this weekend! One of the most amazing gifts of being a parent is watching your child find their talents and what excites them. And here we are.

~3~

Fall is not my favorite season, but the trees this year have been beautiful. I am in awe of all the colors. Trees are so magnificent, and God has such extraordinary creativity to make them all those different shades and then to have them drop the leaves on the ground. I do see the beauty of this time of year, though I don’t enjoy the growing darkness.

One of my friends tells me I am doing fall all wrong and that I need to view it as a chance to hibernate more inside and be cozy. There’s something to be said for that.

I am grateful for the extra light in the mornings thanks to that hour we gained. I’d just like to put in a request for some extra daylight on the other end of the day too.

~4~

What I do love is soup weather, though we celebrate that all year. One of my husband’s favorite dishes is French onion soup, but I rarely think to make it.

This week, I pulled out the mandolin and cut up onions and cooked and cooked and cooked them until they were melt-in-your-mouth soft. I added beef broth and thyme and sherry. Then I filled crocks with soup and pieces of bread and shaved Gruyere cheese and broiled them for a few minutes.

This dish only works for 75% of the family, but I consider that a win. The soup even stretched to last for a second night.

If you’d like to try it, here is the French onion soup recipe I use.

~5~

Our children were getting a little old for trick-or-treating when Covid hit, and after the pandemic, no one wanted to go out on Halloween.

At the time, I thought we had lost our trick-or-treating window. Then last year and this year our younger son dressed up and went trick-or-treating with a friend.

This year he dressed up again, this time as a baseball player, and came home with a bag stuffed full of candy.

Who knows what next year will hold? But I am grateful for now.

~6~

I helped co-lead a bilingual rosary at my parish a few weeks ago, and it was an incredibly powerful experience. I had worried that praying in English and Spanish would be awkward, but the two languages only enhanced the prayer.

I had also been concerned that because I would be leading, I wouldn’t be able to meditate and really connect spiritually with Mary and Jesus. But I don’t know why I was worried. God was so fully present in the room, and the reverence and sense of community was warm and comforting.

There’s something so special about the Rosary.

~7~

This year I’m marking my 25^th reunion from college. My alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College, hosted alumni weekend the same weekend as family weekend. Because my nephew is a first-year student there, I went up to go to a concert he was performing in that night.

The student musicians all dressed in Halloween costumes, which made for an absolutely delightful performance. I had the chance to take my nephew out for pizza before the concert and then a late birthday dessert with his mother and younger siblings afterward.

I even had the chance to see some of my classmates and walk around the campus a bit. It was a wonderful evening, made better by the slice of spaghetti pizza.

Twenty-five years. In so many ways, that doesn’t seem possible. And yet so much of life has happened since then.

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