Little Brother loves music. He loves to dance. It’s as if he can’t even help himself. When he hears music with a good beat, he has to move.
One of his favorites is the “Cha Cha Slide.” He’s almost got the whole thing memorized. Last night at Middle Sister’s basketball game, he was in the bed of a friend’s pickup truck, leading the “Cha Cha Slide” a cappella.
I had to stop him this morning from dancing the “Cha Cha Slide” with a bowl of cereal in one hand.
This kid really makes me smile.
I sit in the middle of the crowd I was in tonight, and feel completely invisible.
Maybe someone will wave at me as they walk in. No one says goodbye when they walk out. Their backs are toward me as they conduct the business of their clique, the power-brokers celebrating their achievements at someone else’s expense.
I find myself slowly curling up to make myself even smaller, even more invisible. Because there is no other way to survive those moments.
And when I am back home, it takes the rest of the evening to unfold myself from the emotional fetal position I have assumed in self-defense.
Some things never change.
Little Brother had a prodigiously messy face after eating a huge spaghetti dinner tonight.
Big Brother volunteered to clean him up.
Cleanup implements were not a simple washcloth and water. Oh no! He put swim goggles on Little Brother, took him outside, and started “hosing him down” with a Super Soaker.
To Little Brother: “Do not dribble the basketball on your sister’s head.”
So there I am, struggling through a Denise Austin workout show that I taped from TV a while ago. Of COURSE on the first day I am committing myself to exercise it would have to be an “abs” workout. I can do a grand total of 0 crunches.
Little Brother was watching me with interest and concern as I moaned and groaned and talked back to the cheery, smiling, toned and trim person on the TV. He kept up this continuing patter all through the video:
“Do you want to stop, Mom? Do you want to get your drink of water? Do you like this one? Is this a good one? Can you do that one? How come you can’t do that one? SHE can do that. Is she older than you?”
Big Brother is in the middle of some convoluted story about someone at school. He mentioned that the student in question has a “Napoleon complex.” Then he offered to define that term for Middle Sister, who he correctly guessed would not know what that meant.
“…so, you know who Napoleon was, right?”
“Napoleon DYNAMITE! Yeah, I know who he is.”
Obviously Middle Sister’s grasp on popular culture is better than her grasp of world history.
Jean at Catholic Fire tagged me for this meme.
Here are the rules: Share four things that were new to you in the past four years. Four things you learned or experienced or explored for the first time in the past four years. Then share four things you want to try new in the next four years.
4 NEW THINGS
–We changed parishes, and the kids all changed schools. We’re STILL getting used to all of that and it’s been a year.
—Nesco roasters. I own one of each size and they have completely changed the way I cook, not to mention the way I cook for parties! (And they were put to work yesterday in the Franciscan Kitchen!)
–Joining the world of blogging. 4 years ago I had never even heard of a blog, much less thought about writing one.
–This beautiful organ.
4 THINGS I HOPE TO TRY
–Making and sticking to a regular exercise routine (what’s that, you say? Barb’s going to exercise? Barb is voluntarily committing herself to some form of physical activity that does not involve cooking and hanging laundry on the line? Has Hell frozen over?)
–Paring down my wardrobe. I honestly do not need all the clothes I own. I could get by on much less. I’d just have to put aside that desire for variety.
–Actually reading all the books I already own–or get rid of what I never intend to read. (But if I’ve already read it, it’s fine for keeping….)
–Learning to play that organ!
Tag–you’re it!
The Kitchen Madonna
Jill of Jill’s Write Stuff
Ellen “From Across the Net”
Denise, the “Catholic Matriarch in My Domestic Church”
Every year our Secular Franciscan fraternity has several traditional events.
First, we have our Extraction of Saints during the Christmas season. Each person is given the name of a patron saint for the year, a Franciscan quote to meditate on, another Fraternity member’s name to keep in special prayer, and a virtue to work on developing throughout the year.
Later in the year we hold our Day of Recollection. This will be the fourth time our Fraternity has hosted this event. Our speaker is the National Spiritual Director of the Secular Franciscan Order–how do we get such a famous Franciscan, you ask? Here’s our secret: his mom’s a member of our fraternity! (Too bad Ellen can’t come, but her son graduated from high school last night, so I’ll let her take a pass this year. Next year, I hope to see her there!) The topic this year is “Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures.”
As usual I will be running the Franciscan Kitchen for this event. It’s only right. This year the virtue I am to work on is “hospitality.”
I feel like I am scraping the bottom of the hospitality barrel at the moment. But last night after I came in, I read at Summa Mammas that there is grace in just doing the work. I’ll repeat the quote here:
The obedience of faith requires that we do our work. We must go on day after day, simply and humbly, not waiting for chills and thrills. Grace, not revelation, is our daily bread. Grace is enough. Receiving that, in the portion given according to the lovingkindness of our God, we must act responsibly in the situation in which He puts us, as the disciples had to do when left behind at Christ’s ascension. No doubt they felt bewildered and abandoned and would like to have risen with Him through the clouds. When the angels suddenly stood beside them and asked why they were gazing into the sky, they “came down to earth,” as it were, went back to Jerusalem to the lodging where they belonged and carried on with their prayers.
———–Elisabeth Elliot
So, after I am fortified with more coffee and a good breakfast, I will take myself and my freshly-ironed Generalissimama apron with the St. Benedict medal (wasn’t his motto “Ora et labora”–prayer and work) and my extra Sharpies, and I will do my very best to be an instrument of grace and hospitality in the Franciscan Kitchen today.
I just got a call from the mom of Middle Sister’s “BFF.” BFF’s grandmother “Nonna” had a stroke a couple of years ago, and apparently she has had another one today. I was asked to pick up BFF after school and keep her at my home until one of her parents can come get her.
It’s an easy enough thing to do to help a friend.
Another easy thing to do is pray. And you don’t even have to know this family to pray for them: for Nonna, for BFF’s mom who is accompanying Nonna in the ambulance right now, for BFF and the rest of the family, and for the medical team who will be helping Nonna in the coming days.
Please join your prayers to mine. May God’s will be done.
UPDATE: I just received word that Nonna passed away about 3:00 this afternoon. Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace, and may her family who grieves her be comforted.
YES, I know it’s too early in the morning for those. But a few minutes ago I finished making Little Brother’s oatmeal, put the bowl on the table and called him to come eat it.
He was up early this morning and almost immediately dived into the Legos to work on a fairly large-scale creation.
I called him again and said, “Your oatmeal’s on the table! Why didn’t you come eat it when I called you?”
“You didn’t call me,” he answered.
“Yes, I did,” I told him.
“But I didn’t hear you! So you didn’t call me….”
So there it is: the philosophical question of the day. If Mom calls, and the boy doesn’t hear her, did Mom actually call the boy?