Happy Endings

Today I celebrate two happy endings. One is happy because it's ending, and the other just ended happily.
Today I emailed my final paper to my final professor. No, not forever-final, just final for the semester. And with that email I ended my 4th semester of grad school and begin a blissful summer vacation. Well, I won't be on actual vacation, I will still be working, but no more pencils, no more books.... Oh that reminds me, I have to return my library books.
Today, too, we ended the "season" of Generations of Faith, our faith formation program. We had a really great year, focused on evangelization and discipleship, where our goal was to train a parish full of evangelists, as my pastor says.
We finished the series with a big commissioning, and a good old fashioned procession and crowning of Mary. The older people swooned over the processions and the kids had a great time waving the streamers and flags as we walked to the park. We had a great time, and the staff really felt like something great had been accomplished.

We're celebrating this happy ending by coming home early- we were home by 6:30- that NEVER happens on a Sunday night! Usually it's because we go out to dinner after Mass and whatnot... so it's not a negative thing to come home later on Sundays but it is a pretty cool feeling to be home this early, while the sun is still up. After a crazy-busy and crazy-happy weekend of near-constant running around we settled into our happy places for dinner, and after a half-hour of sitting I stood up and felt every muscle in my body! But it's a good feeling, it means I'm alive and doing good work.

After a few years of the whole community model of faith formation, I would surely have a hard time going back to the traditional classroom model. It amazes me that more parishes haven't had the courage to move over to this model, and let go of the bookkeeper/bouncer/policeperson role that DRE's and sacramental coordinators are forced to play now. It's hard- yes! It's hard! Shouldn't doing ministry, bringing people to Christ and vice-versa, guiding young people into better relationship with God and the Church, be worth working hard for?

Next year for my internship, I'll be working along these very lines- designing and facilitating workshops for DRE's, Youth Ministers, and Sacramental Coordinators to help them jump out of the rut and look at their roles from a new viewpoint. I can't wait to get started on it...

butt-dial!

Today on my way home from class, I got a call on my cell phone from a number I didn't recognize. I often don't answer my phone even if I do know who's calling, as you may remember... but especially this evening, I decided to ignore it and wait for a message. I was on Storrow Drive and it was dark out and busy, and that's a crazy road!
A while later (it took quite a while, so I should have known...) I got the beep for a message. I dialed it up (on a much saner stretch of my route) and heard that I'd been butt-dialed. I think it's happening more and more nowadays, with people using touch-sensitive, non-flip phones.
I couldn't help myself, I listened to the whole thing. It was probably a minute long, and I couldn't recognize the voice that I heard, muffled, in the background. But I could tell that they were... closing drawers? Yes, I think that's what that sound is... I pictured the caller in their bedroom, putting clothes away after finishing their last load of laundry. I imagined it was a busy Mom, probably telling her kids to clean up their room or finish their homework, or that dinner would be ready any minute. I bet she'd just come home from work and squeezed in that last load between picking up her kids and getting dinner on the table.
Of course, I have no real idea. But I can't be the only one who will listen to a butt-dial message. It's a sneaky glimpse into the life of a stranger, a misty hint of a life's story. I think I like butt-dial messages better than voice-mail messages!

I never answer my phone.

I got a message from a dear friend the other day, and all she said was "WHY DON'T YOU EVER ANSWER YOUR PHONE? WHY OH WHY???" or something along those lines. So, here's my list of reasons why I never answer my phone- you can choose your favorite one......

1) I always forget to move the phone when I move. For instance, right now, I'm in the living room and my phone is in the kitchen, in my purse.
2) It doesn't work in my office, and hey, that's a serious chunk of the day- that's a good excuse! And it's true!!
3) The battery on my phone is near-dead, and I can only talk for about a minute, really, before it dies, unless I am plugged into something. And the only times I'm plugged in are here in the living room (but the phone's not in here right now, remember? Plus it'd be ruuuuude to make Scott stop watching tv so I can hold a phone conversation) or in my car.
4) In the car, I usually have the radio up loud enough that I can't hear it ring. I do usually sit on my phone in case it vibrates but people just don't seem to call me when I'm in the car, very often.
5) I'm just always busy doing something else. Like, when this friend called me the other day, I was out on the porch folding laundry. And my phone was plugged in wayyyyy in here, in the living room. So.
6) My headphone thingy lost the rubbery thingy that fits into my ear. So... you know, dangerous to drive without that.

I think that's basically it. There's your answer(s). Now you can't possibly be mad at me for not answering the phone!