This morning we went to Mass in Auriesville and saw another family we know from homeschooling events. They are a very nice family who stumbled upon our old NO parish on the days they had the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Albany. The couple of times they went, they lucked out because my father was homilising, so I think they got the nice impression that the Parish was somewhat orthodox. Anywho, they are sweet because whenever I see them they have wonderful compliments for my father, who is usually criticised for his backwards thinking around here.
The wife was telling me she just returned from Lourdes with her husband and one of her daughters because her daughter has severe epilepsy. Apparently not only is the epilepsy debilitating, but the drugs the little girl is on cause behavourial problems. A group I never heard of called the Knights of Malta financed the trip for her family in the hopes of a miracle. I pray she gets one. Please say a prayer for this family.
During Mass the two youngest boys were, well, Little Monsters. I imagine people watching us from behind must have seen this crazy lady shaking her fist at raucous little boys. No, I didn’t really shake my fist at them, but I kept whispering so many “knock that off”s I felt like an evil crazy lady.
After Mass an older couple stopped me and started speaking Spanish to me which, besides the fact I do not speak Spanish, threw me off because the man who clearly looked Italian was speaking fluently with an Italian accent. It threw me off because at first I thought he was speaking Italian and I had this sudden sense of comfort from what is familiar. People never look at me and think “Italian”, but rather that I am Spanish, so I was momentarily psyched. Silly, I know.
The couple instantly started telling me (in English) that we had a beautiful family and we reminded them of themselves when their children were small. They had 7 boys and Mass was always an adventure for them, as it was for us this morning. They had so many wonderful compliments, it was very nice. Later I asked the man in Italian if he spoke Italian as well…Si.
7 boys! Here I am thinking that after three boys in a row, with the luck of the draw the next one should be a girl. My friend Karen just had her 8th girl (she has 2 boys as well). And I think after three boys I should get a girl. Maybe if I pray really hard that God will realise I know better than He does what kinds of souls to send me!
Well, off to make eggplant parmagiana for dinner.