Shoulders Aren't Just To Cry On

"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

Covered In Dirt, Glue and God's Graces

"Weeds are flowers, too, you know, once you get to know them."

- A. A. Milne

"When you see someone putting on their Big Boots, you can be pretty sure an Adventure is going to happen."

- A. A. Milne

    When I woke up this morning, I could barely move my arms or my legs. In a quick second of panic, I wondered: "What on earth did I do yesterday that I .... oh." Then, I remembered. And when I remembered, I thought that physical pain never felt so good. 

    Let's start with the email I got a week or so ago from one of my Sisters. Her email read, "If you can help, just know that you will probably get pretty dirty." Right away I assumed we would be gardening since she is the Sister who loves the garden and the earth more than anyone I've ever met. So, I arrived at the convent at our designated time in shorts and an old t-shirt. I had my hair braid back and had a headband on. Usually when I arrive at the convent I look a little more put together than that but we were going to get dirty.

     Now there was one little thing about my Sister that I had forgotten about. When she pulled out the list of tasks we were attempting to accomplish for the day, gardening was last on the list. Re-assembling the garden benches was number one. I forgot that my dear Sister was very handy with power tools and hardware. I knew then that I was in for a big adventure! Actually no, the realization came after she asked if I had brought with me a change of clothes. This was serious adventure business. 

     We wound up going to the garden first where we spent two hours pulling weeds and bug picking. Sound exciting?! Actually, while it may not be many people's cup of tea, I love it. There is something so wonderful about feeling beautiful, cool, moist dirt between my fingers and toes. As a child, I would dig and dig and dig in my back yard (and then blame the holes on the dog...) because I loved the feeling of being so one with the earth. So, I absolutely loved being on my hands and knees, pulling the weeds. And since I love bugs, bug picking was pretty awesome, too. For a good fifteen minutes, I felt like the nuns in Sister Act when the Convent bells rang their noontime hymns. I felt perfectly nunny. 

     Being in the garden also gave us some pleasant wildlife experiences. When we first pulled up, we found a precious little baby fox. He wasn't shy at all, and just casually went along his way as we entered the garden. We also found a cute little toad chillin' in the weeds so we didn't destroy his little home. And then there was the butterfly garden, filled with buzzing bees and beautiful butterflies! It was soooo wonderful just to be so surrounded by nature and covered in dirt.

      Our adventure didn't stop there, however. We cooked up the veggies we scored from the garden and had a DELICIOUS MEAL! We sat around my favorite table in the kitchen which casually was filled with other sisters as they came and went. I just love that table so much! 

      Soon enough, our energy was being put into moving boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff from the second floor to the basement simply because there was an extra set of "young legs" in the house and the elevator has been broken for weeks (that's a whole other story...and i'm soooooo upset the elevator is STILL broken). So, since some of the sisters are moving around, we helped them out and it was, of course, great!

      Finally, our adventurous day took a turn for manual labor. Yes, my friends, sister and I reassembled from pieces the two benches that used to be in the garden outside. We were literally using so much wo"man" power with our use of hardware and power tools. Yes, I realized that even in the convent, it's good to know how to do a "man's work." Pshh...please, I can use a nail gun better than my dad and he knows it!! So, after two hours of gluing and piecing together, we had ourselves two almost brand new benches. I've never felt like I had accomplished so much in one day.

      We ended our adventure in Chapel, covered in dirt, glue and God's graces, by praying evening prayer together. We spent most of our time in Chapel laughing during our faith sharing at all the funny things our psalms said that matched what we did that day! Yes, it truly was so beautiful. I never truly expected being given the opportunity to discern over manual labor and gardening, and yet, I had such a wonderful experience. God used the dirt and glue to show me that even if I don't realize it, I'm covered in it, and I'll always find more on myself somewhere, just like God's graces. They stick to you and get into the tiniest crevices...like the heart.