It’s May, which means every now and then we have a night without baseball or a concert or some other commitment. Mostly, though, it’s a mad dash to the finish. Not to wish time away, but summer can start anytime. It’s my absolute favorite time of year.
You know what else I love? 7 Quick Takes. And I haven’t written quick takes in ages. So, let’s jump in.
~1~
All year, we’ve been pretty good about getting to school on time, but these last days are testing us. More and more often, I notice that breakfast is happening in the car.
One day last week, after I got to work, I glanced over at the front passenger seat and saw that my son had left the remains of a bowl of scrambled eggs.
That’s May. You might be able to find time to scramble eggs in the morning, but you can’t possibly eat them—unless you eat them in the car. And you’re really just proud people are eating real food sometimes. We’ll call it a win.
~2~
Pope Leo plays Wordle, and so do I. I won 200 in a row until I lost last week. “Eager” took me down.
~3~
Our younger son made his Confirmation last weekend. I am so proud of the person he is and the person he is becoming. He chose St. John Neumann as his Confirmation saint, which I loved because of his ties to Baltimore. His sponsor was his Uncle George. The two of them joined the family at about the same time—one through adoption and one through starting to date my sister.
We love our parish, but our son did his Confirmation prep—and then his Confirmation—at a different parish so he could be Confirmed with his best friend. I think it’s really important to connect with friends who share your faith, especially during the teen years.
~4~
My biggest work event of the year—commencement—was on the same day as the Confirmation, and I had no idea how I would have the energy to do both. We signed up for the later Confirmation Mass, but I knew I would be exhausted after working a rigorous almost-eight hours at commencement. (Shout-out to my superhero colleagues who worked Commencement, went to their children’s Confirmation, and then sent another child off to prom that evening.)
As the day approached, my sister Treasa—George’s wife—kept patiently checking in to see what the plans were for celebrating afterward. We settled on going out for snowballs afterward, but then the weather started looking iffy during the week. We needed an indoor plan. So, Treasa and my mother offered to bring all the food—chicken salad, potato salad, pasta salad, and brownies. My father even brought his delicious molasses cookies, which our boys love.
When we arrived home from the Confirmation Mass, my parents and sister had already set the table, and my nieces and nephews were already digging into the food. It was the perfect celebration.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are incredible. So are the gifts of extended family who know when you’ve reached your limit.
~5~
The Feast of St. Rita of Cascia was this week—on May 22—and I didn’t think I would be able to get to Mass based on my schedule for the day. I really love to go on her feast day. But suddenly that morning I realized I was running ahead of schedule. My husband was already planning to handle school drop-off, and if I left the house just a little earlier than scheduled, I could make it to 7 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
I went, and it was a wonderful Mass. The priest recognized me and greeted me on my feast day as I left, and friends of Treasa’s were there too so we could chat briefly about St. Rita. I even knew the lector.
I loved that on a day when getting to Mass seemed impossible, I made it. St. Rita is patron of the impossible, and she so often comes through as the powerful intercessor she is.
Also, I just learned that St. Rita was canonized by Pope Leo XIII 125 years ago this year.
~6~
I have a crack in my windshield. I don’t know whether it happened during that terrible storm that hit Baltimore on May 16 or if it happened while I was driving the next day. But the nick has spread in a crack that goes almost halfway across the windshield.
I scheduled a time to get it fixed, and twice now the windshield repair place has sent me a message telling me that my appointment has been updated. By “updated,” they mean “rescheduled.” I would argue that the only key aspect of an appointment is the date and time, and that changing that is not an “update,” but rather a new appointment.
Still, one day it will be fixed—the appointment and the windshield.
~7~
I’m moving into a new office at work, and so far I can’t find the flyswatters I packed up when we moved out of our old space a year ago. I can do a little more looking, but it’s probably time for a novena to St. Anthony. I’m hoping I didn’t lose part of my flyswatter collection in the move.
In good news, though, one of my colleagues presented me with a tiny homemade flyswatter magnet, which I installed immediately on the magnetic doorframe. She bought it for me more than a year ago and found it when she was unpacking her boxes.
Such a sweet discovery.
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