No! this isn't a religious post and it's certainly not a persuasion post.. it' more of an "adventure" post or something along those lines....Sunday morning, 8am, I'm sleeping and walking around in dreamland...all of a sudden I hear some footsteps, very loud footsteps... she comes to the side of my bed and starts shaking me abruptly... "mommy, mommy... it's Sunday".... I open one eye and look at her with a face that begs to let me sleep for another 20 minutes... she smiles..Nope! it's not happening.. I have to get up and start the day... the SUNDAY!
Breakfast is served, cartoons are on, toys beginning to be thrown on the floor...yes.. it's Sunday, our crazy day!
A few hours go by and it's almost time to go to church... we all get ready and I start dreading the almost two hours that the mass lasts...
We drive to church, park in a shady spot, take the kids and start walking towards the cross...as we walk in, people begin to look at us.. their eyes say "please, don't sit here, keep walking"...so we do, we keep walking.. searching for "the spot"...and we find it..
(The "cry room" doesn't work for us because the sound is horrible and the kids simply don't like it!)
There we are.. all 4 of us.. ready to sing and pray and listen to the sermon...fun stuff!
So...it begins...we survive the first 30 minutes..kids are great, coloring, standing, sitting, kneeling... 15 more minutes go by.. behavior is still decent..I'm looking at my watch thinking "45 more minutes, a few songs, a few prayers and we'll be out"... and then the MELTDOWN starts.. kids start to get anxious....they're being loud, they're hungry, tired, sleepy... Gaby is squirming, Olivia is whining... I look at Iggy... my eyes say it all "hide, run, take them away"... and he shrugs...he needs to pray!
I look around, wondering who's looking at me and what they're thinking... luckily people are praying, focused, some are even sleeping... and there I am.. so worried about what my little ones will do next...I don't really want to know!
Things get progressively worse.. I'm looking for a door, a way to escape... I see a door to the CCD room (I know it all too well since I'm a catechist at the church)... I grab Gaby or Olivia, whoever is being the naughtiest... and I walk in the room.. silent and lonely.. with a crying baby or a whining little girl, whichever it is... the next 30 minutes are when everything happens.. communion, blessing, etc.. so I hear it in the distance... I'm praying, I'm feeling blessed but frustrated at the same time.. well, at least no one is looking...I walk out, take communion and back to the room I am!
... then I hear cues about the mass ending.. parish announcements, closing prayer...yes! it's time!
I exit the room, look around, people are smiling... "they understand" I say to myself... and I'm glad it's over... off we go.. we survived another Sunday mass...or did we?
.. and we do it again and again.. because I refuse to stop going to church and giving in.. the kids need to learn and I need to manage accordingly...
LORD HELP ME!
3 comments:
Super bien escrito este post. Me sentia como si estuviera contigo en la iglesia, viviendo cada minuto de la misa contigo.
Dos horas es bastante para un nino para quedarse tranquilo, pero poco a poco se iran a costumbrando a la misa.
Hey! What is the crying room? Is it where the other young children are?
The "cry" room is an isolated room in the back of the church, where parents with young children sit...It's basically a room with glass doors, where the sound is isolated from the main church, and there are speakers so everyone in there can hear the sermon!
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