I'm The Fairy Godmother...Again

"I know what every princess needs to live happily ever after.

Your troubles will soon be gone, worries will vanish, your soul will cleanse."

- Fairy Godmother, Shrek 2 

      A little less than three weeks ago while I sitting on my bed attempting to write my final paper for my Linguistics class on Speech Acquisition for the Deaf (it's actually a veryyyyy interesting topic) when my phone started ringing. When I looked at the caller ID, I panicked slightly when it read "Uncle Charles Home." First, how did he have my cell phone number? Second, WHY ON EARTH WAS HE CALLING ME AT SCHOOL??? "Hello?" I answered? "Rebecca!" my uncle replied with excitement. Only my aunts and uncles call me by my full first name. "What's up?" He answered by telling me I have a brand new cousin, Emily. This makes...oh...only 28 grandkids in the family. I was overjoyed. In my joy, I forgot that my uncle usually doesn't call the cousins personally to make them aware of the newest baby. They simply call the brothers.

      I could hear the other six kids in the background when my uncle put my Aunt Maryanne on speaker phone. "We have a question for you," they said in unison, "Would you be Emily's God-mother?"  I almost leapt off my bed because my heart was so happy. Yes! Yes! Yes! I was honored! I was ready to go scream to the whole campus that I was going to be a Godmother to my newest (and cutest) cousin. How awesome! I could hear a sigh of relief from the other side of the phone....as if I would say no...silly Uncle and Aunt! I smiled as we hung up. In a few weeks, I would get to see and hold and love and spoil my God-daughter, Emily.

       Yesterday was the Baptism. After staying up til 3:30 (which was the brightest idea), I was rolling out of bed at 8:15 and heading to the bookstore to get my God-daughter her gift. I tossed and turned all night long thinking what on earth I should get a one month old for her Baptism. A rosary? No....that's for First Communion. A bracelet? Nah...she'd probably eat it. A picture frame? With what picture. BOOKS! I'll get her BOOKS! It finally dawned on me. When I found out I was going to be a God-mother, I had class later that night with Professor Mooney, who of course asked what the baby's name was. When I said Emily, he responded by telling me I better teach her all about Emily Bronte and Emily Dickinson. So, I bought her a book of Emily Dickinson poetry for kids. Some may argue that she can't read, but she will be able to one day. Besides, it's because of the name. However, I also bought her two of my favorite books by Nancy Tillman: On The Day You Were (appropriate) and Wherever You Go, My Love Will Find You (which is about God's love...which we receive in Baptism, so there!) This kid will be reading the best literature before she can count to ten. Yes, that's my goal. Poor girl....not only did she receive God's love and grace through Baptism, but she also gained an English Major for a God-mom. 

      As a God-mother, there are certain duties one most take care of...you know, like dress the baby, change the baby, take pictures with the baby, love the baby, smile at the baby, hold the baby. But as a cousin (and niece), I also have duties. Like....harass the six other kids in the car by tickling them into their car seats and holding their hands into and out of church, bouncing them on my lap, messing up their hair and eating their cookies. Not only was I blessed to be a God-mother to my beautiful, littlest cousin, but I was blessed to be a cousin and a niece as well. 

      I love my family so much. I love how crazy we are, and how much we really look out for each other. I love our dads don't yell at their own kids but all the other ones and then harass the heck out of the ones that aren't in trouble. I love that our moms just roll their eyes and laugh as the dads turn back into brothers. I love that the older cousins get dirtier than the younger cousins when we are running around the house. I love that everyone bugs the new boyfriend/girlfriend. I love that the babies get handed around to every member of the family. I love when I get picked up and hung upside-down over banisters even though I'm twenty years old. Yes, I love my family and being with them at the Baptism really shows how deep our faith is especially when we are with each other. Faith is what grounds us, and it shows when the whole family comes together for the Sacraments....even if we go crazy at the "after Church party."

      I love my little baby cousin, Emily. I can't stop smiling at the picture my Aunt and Uncle gave me yesterday. She's beautiful and so stinking cute. I can't wait to see her all the time and love her up! While I got to spend a good amount of time with her yesterday morning, she crashed after the Baptism, giving me more time to spend with her brothers and sisters and our cousins. Some of my favorite moments yesterday were: Maria, who's 14 months old, passing out on the floor and sleeping the day away; Charlie, who's 4, grabbing my hand and then smacking me in the forehead with his other hand that was covered in Holy Water as we left the church; Chris, who's my Dad's God-son, getting punched in the eye which then resulted in me "trying to fix the eye" and my Dad chasing his brother who threw the punch (who happened to be Emily's God-father....); and Albert, who's 5, eating and hiding his cookies from the cookie monster who happened to be Uncle Larry. I just love my family so much. Enjoy the pictures!

She slept through the whole thing!

Posing...because we got kicked out of the other picture.

COUNT THE KIDS!

Yeah...my uncle's a hunter?

See what I mean by crazy....

....it runs in the family. 

I took his picture first!

She was a little jealous....

Then there was this kid who kept trying to get in our picture and no one knew who she was at all.....but she did tell me she liked my "Fairy God-Mother shoes."

Throwing Stability to the Wind

"If I can see it, than I can do it.

If I just believe it, there's nothing to it.

I believe I can fly, 

I believe I can touch the sky."

- "I Believe I Can Fly," R. Kelly

    It might be assumed that if I am a writer, I am also a reader. That assumption would be correct. I can currently in the middle of The Aeneid, Moby-Dick, (both for class) and Sisterhood Everlasting (for my own interest). The last one is the final book in a series I loved as a kid: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I was enamored with the four best friends and found a little bit of myself in each of them. I was an actress (or drama queen) like Carmen, I was in love with my heritage like Lena (she's Greek....hoopah!), I was sarcastic like Tibby, but most of all I was free like Bridget. Ironically in the books, Bridget's nickname is Bee, which was my grandmother's nickname. And people say I am most like her, too. 

    Let me describe Bridget a bit to you, and in a way,  it'll be just like describing myself to you. Bridget is always running. She is either running from her emotions or running towards her dreams. She has this deep inner piece of her heart that only wants to help people, because somehow by helping others, she is helping herself. She has a beautiful smile that is so genuine and yet holds so many secrets. And finally, Bridget has a desire to just go. Not to ruin the book for you, but she eventually packs all her things in her backpack, takes her sleeping bag with her and rides her bike all across California sleeping outside and living. Somehow that intrigues me. She has thrown everything to the wind and let her spirit take her wherever it is supposed to go!

    This morning (for some reason or another...there are never explanations for the random happenings around here), all the elevators in all the buildings were "out of order." Ironically, my first thought was: "How are the nuns going to get to Mass?" as Chapel is on the second floor of Villa Maria. But by the grace of God, they all made it. When I was leaving Mass, I headed down the stairs behind two of my sisters. One sister asked the other sister if she could hold her hand while walking down the stairs. That sister than reached out for my hand. The three of us, while holding hands and taking each step slowly and together, made it down the stairs. Behind us, one of my Sister Professors, Sister Carmel, said, "Well isn't this the most iconic trio!" Of course, this resulted in much laughter from the trio ourselves and the two other sisters behind us. Sister Anne, who had been the sister in the middle of our trio, patted my shoulder and said, "Well, at least someone around here has some stability." I laughed, but if only they knew....I had thrown stability to the wind a long time ago.

     Last night, while sitting on my bed doing homework, my Uncle Charles called me. He and his wife had just had their seventh (yes, I said seventh...) baby last Friday. "Well gee, thanks for letting me know a week later, Uncle Chal," I joked. "Yeah, well with three kids, life is anything but stable." The conversation furthered into my aunt and uncle asking me to be my new baby cousin, Emily's God-Mother. HOW COULD I SAY NO?! Ironically enough, I was the flower girl in their wedding oh....12 years ago. I felt so honored and blessed. What did my uncle say to me?: "We knew we could count on you!"

    On Sunday (as you know if you read yesterday's blog), I was a sponsor for one of the girls in my parish. When I was talking with her parents before the celebration, they said to me: "G was nervous you wouldn't make it. But we knew you'd be here. We can always depend on you." 

     In all three of these circumstances, those around me have given light to my stability and my dependability. But for so long in my life, I've felt anything but stable. Things are always changing in my life. I can never keep a daily routine, I have a spirit that goes with the wind. Change is inevitable in my life. THINGS ALWAYS CHANGE! I NEVER KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!

     I thought about this after I helped my sisters, and had the attention on my stability come forward again for the third time. It dawned on me that while YES, I have thrown stability to the wind and have let adventure lead my life, I didn't necessarily get rid of it! You see, by throwing stability to the wind, I had given it to God. That is the only thing that is stable in my life: God is always present. 

    So, take it for what you will. If you feel like you can't catch a break, that things are always haywire, maybe they are. But one thing's for sure, God's in the Wind. I threw my stability to Him!

The "Yay" Babies Make a Comeback

"But Jesus said, 'Let the children alone, 

and do not hinder them from coming to me; 

for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.'"

- Matthew 19:14

     A long, long, long, long, LONG time ago, I used to be a cantor at my home Parish. One morning, a morning I particularly did not want to be up at the crack of dawn, there seemed to be a lot of babies and toddlers at the nine am Mass. Ironically enough, they were all content, happy, and smiling. Not a single one was making any noise. I was flabbergasted. Finally, I got up to sing the entrance hymn. When the song was over, all I heard from the pews was "YAY!" and clapping hands soon followed by other clapping hands. I, of course, started to laugh. After every song I sang, the babies all did this. During no other part of the Mass did those babies and toddlers make a sound! At the end of Mass, I, too, was all smiles. Next weekend, those babies and toddlers were gone. Never again did I hear the crowd of "Yay" babies. That was until this morning.

     Once again, my family actually had to drag me out of bed for the early Mass. I'm as human as any other when it comes to wanting to sleep in! Trust me, if there is a nine and an eleven option for Mass, I'm taking eleven. Anyway, so dragging my feet (and every other part of my body), I went to the nine am Mass. As I was sitting in the pew with my aunt, little sister and Dad, I began to notice how many bouncing babes were in church. Three alone were in the pew in front of me. I couldn't count how many were on the other side of church or behind me. I smiled, instantly remembering that moment of the "Yay" babies. All these babies were being so perfect and quiet, too. I was just waiting for one of them to start shouting. And right at the consecration of the Eucharist, one little, outspoken girl from the back shouted "YAY!" and started clapping her hands. Before I knew it, all the babies were watching the consecration and clapping, too. I was amazed and in utter awe. I couldn't thank God enough for that moment.

     Later today, after Mass, my family and I headed to my cousins' parish in Ardsley where my youngest Kulesza "cousin" was baptized. Ironically enough, that baptism was anything but quiet. Once again, I was surrounded by the little ones. Some were crying, some were laughing, some were playing with their toys. They were everywhere! And father's Baptism "Homily" of sorts was all about letting the little ones come to Jesus. He openly admitted that most times, when talking about the truth of Jesus' love, the little ones know it better than we ever could. How true!

    I thought about the "Yay" Babies. They knew what was up! They knew exactly was what going on at Mass and truly understood it in their hearts. If we knew, if we really knew, wouldn't we be shouting and yelling praise for our God and our Jesus, our Savior!!??!! Let's really think about this: God, Jesus, is really, literally there in that moment. All we do is sit quietly, bowing our heads, and not even giving Jesus a glance! Yet, these little ones are literally shouting and screaming and clapping and crying for Him! Now, some may say, it is not socially accepted for grown adults to be clapping and shouting during Mass. Ok, I get that. We gotta have that respect thing going. And babies are excused because they are cute....I get it. But, here's my viewpoint on it: let's try to pay attention to what these kids have to say. THIS IS WHY JESUS SAID LET THE LITTLE ONES COME TO ME; THEY UNDERSTAND HIM! And if they are shouting praise at His name and clapping their little hands, well let them. If they are leading a parade around church during a Baptism, let them! If they are laughing and giggling during the Homily, let them. They are giving the ultimate praise and worship to JESUS, my friends!!! 

     And so, since I know most of you won't embrace your inner child during Mass, try to just give it a thought during the next Mass you are at. Instead of bowing your head, look Jesus straight in the eye during consecration. Instead of keeping quiet, let out a little "Hey, Jesus, I love You." And if your pew buddy looks at you weird, just turn to them and say, "Yo, Jesus is here. Don't you think I should acknowledge His presence?" Don't shush the real little ones, and don't shush the little one inside of you. EMBRACE YOUR INNER YAY BABY! JUST DO IT! Because, the truth is, my friend, those "Yay" Babies know what is going on, they get it, probably more than we ever will. Jesus is here. Let's celebrate Him!!! YAY BABIES!

      Congrats Kara and Matt on the Baptism of your youngest little one, Keegan Joseph. Also, I just found out my Uncle Charles and Aunt Mary-Anne just had their SEVENTH (they are Catholic, can you tell?) little one: Emily! Congrats to me and all my cousins on being cousins again! HAHA! I pray they become "Yay" Babies!