"Pulled into Nazareth, feeling 'bout half past dead.
Just need some place where I can rest my head.
Sister, can you tell me where one might find a bed?
She just grinned and shook my hand. No, was all she said."
- "The Weight," John Denver
It seems that when I am at school, I can barely survive without at least two naps a day. I go to bed at midnight and get up at 6:30. Every. Single. Day. For the past two days, I have gone to bed at midnight and gotten up at 6. I've have no naps. And yet, I'm running on full. God has given me such grace and energy! And what grace and energy I needed to get through this adventurous day!
Once again, I "pulled into Nazareth" and observed my dear Sister Mary Anthony for another few hours. However, today at Nazareth, I was once again reminded of something from my past. Something, that for some reason, I pushed deep inside myself and haven't let loose for a while. I was reminded of the deep and intense affect of a smile and of gentle words. Oh, and how much screaming "I love you" down any hallway really does hit home to peoples' hearts. Why? Because someone took notice. As much as I visit my alma mater, I don't know too many of the students there anymore. For most of them, I was a random visitor. And yet, a random visitor who wasn't afraid to smile, hug, or motivate my "new friends." Of course, my "old friends" appreciated it as well. Somehow, I knew I changed some lives yesterday!
After the Nazareth adventure...well, there was another Nazareth adventure. As I said while we were driving, "Every time I'm in a car with nuns, people look at me weird. So I wave and I wonder why are they looking at me weird. When the drive away, I realize. Oh, I'm in a car with a bunch of women who have weird things on their heads." I can't tell you how many times that happened yesterday! Life with the sisters is so normal for me, that I often forget that to most people it's actually kind of weird, abnormal, out of the ordinary. So, I continued to just wave and smile at random passersby for two hours as we drove to Middle of No Where, Pennsylvania.
There is something about the middle of PA that simply captures my heart. And while I'll always be a city girl at heart, I could easily adapt to Smalltown, USA in a heartbeat because essentially, my home "city" is a small town. The mountains were beautiful, the sunset, and even the fact that so many years later, Sister Michele still knew everyone and everyone still knew her, made my heart melt. As we visited her "second parish" for their Harvest Festival, I felt a deep connection with those people of St. Mary's. The truth is, what Sister Michele has with St. Mary's, I desire for me and St. Thomas. Every few feet, we met and hugged a different family or couple, meanwhile hearing stories about "Baby Sister Michele." You could easily tell the people there love her. The close-knit aspect of St. Mary's I found was just like that of my own Parish. And so, as I watched her interact with her previous parishioners, I foresaw into my own future. There are some moments, I admit, that when I sitting alone in a pew before Mass, I think of how life will be when I come back to my parish as a Sister. Especially, if it's been so many years. I smiled to myself, as her family quickly became mine. If you know me, you know I could talk to a brick and have it be interesting. So, talking and connecting with the people of St. Mary's was a piece of cake! It was such a beautiful experience to know that my kindred sister could easily be a foreshadowing of my future for when "I go back." The evening was spent enjoying good home cookin', good friendship and great conversation.
Before we knew it, it was already time to go home. And so, the four of climbed in the nun mobile (the car who wishes it was an RV) and headed homeward. As I sat in the backseat and reflected, I realized what a crazy crew we were. We all shared some common bonds, but in truth we are so different. From the languages we speak, to the foods we like, to the way we dress (yes, even as sisters), to the way we interact with one another, we were different and yet, these three lovely women are women I consider my sisters, not just my religious sisters, but my real sisters. And since, I've only ever been the "big sister", they give me a chance to be the little one for a change. From letting me link their arms, to them teasing me about everything under the Sun, yes, I truly felt like a little sister. I embraced my inner Lizzie.
As I reflected, I, of course, fell asleep. Some of you may know that I can honestly sleep anywhere. My roommate has plenty of pictures to prove it. However, the car is probably the place I fall asleep the most aside from my bed. And before we hit the highway, I was out like a light. Somehow, I wound up sharing the shoulder of one of my big sisters, Sister Marcelina, in the back seat. The two of us slept soundly while our two sisters in the front listened to the same four John Denver songs over and over and over. And like little girls all grown up, they woke me by telling me I snored the whole way home. False statement, of course, but my role as little sister remained. And so when we pulled into Nazareth, I was about half past dead (asleep) and when I "asked" sister where I could rest my head, she didn't give me a bed, but her shoulder instead. The shoulders of my sisters, both related and non, are not just for crying on, but they can be for hugs, stories and road trip pillows. It was quite a beautiful night, if I say so myself!
Oh, and just for the record, this song, "Cows On The Hill" does exist! :P
No comments:
Post a Comment