Snow Days, Crazy Days (a 7QT post)

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After the processional-cross-and=sound system Sunday, and the what-happens-when-we-push-the-sound system-slides-all-the-way-up? Sunday, I was gratified, last weekend, to see someone else’s child do something hysterically funny and extremely distracting. This child spent the Eucharistic Prayer painting her face with her mother’s brown lipstick. She looked like she’d buried her mouth in a chocolate fountain. It was hard to focus on Real Presence when everyone was waiting with baited breath to see what would happen when the mother turned around and discovered it.

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Not to be outdone, during the final hymn Michael thought of a new way to be hysterically funny, extremely distracting, and wildly inappropriate. I was three phrases into “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” when I looked down and saw his pants–and underpants–around his ankles.

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Incidentally, Mr. Mayhem? Seriously, kid. You can hum Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ON PITCH. How can you not have ONE SINGLE WORD?

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It was a busy weekend. A quarter inch of ice fell on Friday night, and we spent most of the morning Saturday agonizing over whether to risk the roads to get to my grandmother’s 90th birthday party. We did eventually go, but it required me and two neighbors to push the van up the hill by our house. Grandma’s a pretty special lady. I lived with her for a month before Alex was born, waiting in vain to go into labor.

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We also did our NFP promotional weekend. Christian and I spoke before three Masses at our parish, and we had posters and candy handouts and bulletin inserts at our parish and others around the diocese. It went pretty well. Our first class is this weekend. Still praying for a good turnout.

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This week we had six inches of snow following a quarter inch of ice. Therefore the world ended. The university and the Catholic school closed for two days, and the public schools canceled THE ENTIRE WEEK. Random things happen when you have A WEEK OF SNOW DAYS (did you get that it’s been a WEEK?). For example:

• We are stuck with two dozen store-bought cupcakes intended as a school birthday treat for Miss Julianna. What a waste of money.
• The kids plumb new depths in their capacity for bickering.
• Since snowed-in-Daddy’s work takes precedence over work-at-home mommy’s work, work-at-home-mommy gets up at 5 a.m. every day so she can have the computer before everyone else gets up.
• As a consequence, Mommy is cranky.
• Daddy does radio and TV interviews holed up in various bedrooms and has conference calls with university officials at 4p.m. while the kids tear the basement to shreds.
• Daddy spends one evening playing Wii fit with the kids, which turns out to be the highlight of the week (see, it’s not all bad).
• Daddy sets the iPad and charger on top of the computer, and when Mommy tries to print a recipe, the printer pulls the iPad charger through with the paper and jams it so thoroughly, the printer has to go to the shop. The repair man’s reaction? A chuckle. “Never seen that one before….”

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My story, “The Third Day,” about a mother grappling with her newborn’s diagnosis of Down syndrome, published this week at Apeiron Review. It took a long time to find a home for this story, so I’m particularly thrilled to share it today.

Have a great weekend!