In memory of the horrible acts of terrorism we witnessed on American soil 10 years ago today, and in honor of the men and women who gave their lives, some of whom bravely made that choice to put other lives ahead of their own, and in support of the thousands of people who mourn that loss every day, here are some little glimpses of patriotism in our household.
Casey loves our church, St. Tim's. We pass it on days when she goes to daycare, and she has a wonderful after-Mass-hug relationship with one of our priests, Father Pat. She often asks to go to church (and yes, we sinners tell her to just wait for Sunday instead of taking her midweek!) and loves to talk about the church, the priests, the parking lot (yes, the parking lot!), and who she might bring to her church somedays ("I bring Auntie Heather there somedays, Mommy").
If you know Casey, then you probably know that she likes to sing about EVERYTHING. When she was a little younger, we started out by singing the "Elmo's World" song. Once we turned it into "Casey's song," she began requesting "Papa's song" and "Auntie Erin's song" and "Jack the doggy's song" and so on. If she knows and loves you, I can GUARANTEE that we sing about you on a regular basis! (Yes, that includes all grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, pets, and animals we've met along the way.)
If she asks me to "la la" something that I'd rather not make up a song for, such as "La la supermarket, Mommy?" I tell her that the supermarket doesn't have a song. To which she responds, "Happy Birthday supermarket, Mommy?" and then we move on to quickly wishing the something a very happy birthday.
If she asks us to "la la" something that might already have another song in existence that could work in place of the Elmo tune, such as "La la city bus, Mommy?" I will go right into its own song (for instance, "The Wheels on the Bus").
Sound confusing? Believe me, it can be!
ANYWAY (as this short little story gets farther and farther away from me), getting back to the church bit, when she first asked us to "La la church, please?" we sang a version of the pre-Gospel "Alleluia." For the Psalm verse, I made something up (which I'm sure is NOT actually a Psalm) by singing, "Jesus has risen today, Alleluia we sing our praises, for the Lord has risen to-oo-oo-day" and went back into the "Alleluia" part of the chant. The next time she asked us to sing the church song, I began to make up another verse, to which she promptly sang the original (yet made-up) version and told me, "Like THAT, Mommy." So the girl has a good memory, I s'pose... (smile)
And speaking of church, as I previously mentioned, we had Finlay Baptized into his Catholic faith back in July, during his second month. Instead of being Baptized at our parish here in Philadelphia, we traveled up to my sister's house in New Hampshire (yes, we slept over their house - meaning that four adults, seven kids, and two cats were under one roof!), and Finlay received his first Sacrament alongside his new cousin Eliza Marie. Eliza's parents Tree and Shawn are serving as Finlay's godparents, while Tee Jay and I have proudly taken on the role of Eliza's.
It was a GREAT day, filled with family, friends, and many beautiful moments.
The Godfathers:
I just love the little smirks in this picture (and it amazes me how different both babies look now, one month later!):
After all the excitement of the day (and probably singing many rounds of "Alleluia"), Casey was a very sound napper!
