Quick Takes or What I've Been Doing

1.

My grandmother, who is 78 and in the last stages of Alzheimer's, fell yesterday. She put a big hole in her head and knocked out her remaining front teeth as well as busted up her lip. I grew up my entire life having her around so much so, she's like a second mother to me. Please pray for her.

2.

On the same note, I don't know if she's been baptized or not. I keep wanting to bring up Last Rites to my Mom and pose it to her in a "don't you want to do it just-in-case?" (Remember, my family is protestant and vehemently so). But how do you give last rites to a person who is sometimes and sometimes isn't lucid? That person can't really make a good confession of faith. Heathcliff says a priest probably wouldn't do it.

3.

There's not a patron saint of Alzheimer's patients or caregivers. That's a crying shame. Both of those types people need prayers and need someone in heaven as their advocate.

4.

It seems every time I start to make some spiritual progress about this or that, I am often slapped with huge distractions, namely midterms and paper grading, at work. I haven't been able to finish my veiling set of essays because it hasn't been at the forefront of my mind lately. There are particular people and student problems at work that I'm spending all my energy on just so I won't have to go to confession. And this is about the second or third time in a row just when I start discovering a new facet of spiritual life, I get slammed with all these things happening at work.

5.

Also, I'm becoming more painfully aware of how Catholic I am and how non-Catholic everyone else is. For example, did you know that stores are selling rosaries as necklaces? necklaces?!?! I have one student, who as a nervous habit, chews on his rosary "necklace" in class. I have to bite my tongue every time I see him do it. When teaching Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," I was trying to explain how her Catholicism factored into the meaning of the story. I had one student say, "Did the grandmother wind up in that in between place where Catholics go? I don't know. I don't get this. Catholics are weird."

6.

In the process of moving, my cat snagged my wedding dress. There are now two runs on the front satin panel that are visible to the naked eye. I cried and cried. Heathcliff was over and assured me that we could fix it. I asked him if it turned into a hole, would he please cut the knee out in one of his pants legs so we could match. He said he would.

7.

We saw Father John about marriage counseling. We're looking at dates, but we're planning for May. I'm still in disbelief. Bet you didn't expect number seven to be such an upper, did you? ;)