All Dressed Up

We took the kids to Mass this morning to celebrate the final Sunday of Advent.

We dressed Bobby up in a little sailor style outfit (with hand knitted shoes by a dear internet friend from Pittsburgh).

Maya was pretty in pink (with her handmade shoes, too!) and was more than happy to show off those chunky monkey thighs! So cute!

At Mass today, as I was enjoying holding Maya and watching Peter hold Bobby, listening to a beautiful message, I was caught off guard when, as we prayed for the dead, a certain name was mentioned... The name of the son of friends. We'd been praying for this 38 year old man who was suffering from testicular cancer for some time now and, 2 weeks ago, when I spoke to his mother, they were hoping he would be home from the hospital for Christmas. But this was not to be. This young man, himself the father of an infant, went in for an x-ray last week because they thought he had come down with pneumonia. What they found was cancer. Everywhere. He was told that his days were numbered and sent home. He was on Hospice for one day and died, surrounded by his family, late last night.

As I filled out a Mass card to mail to his mourning parents, I just cracked open and the feelings of losing Nicholas, Sophia, and Alexander rose to the surface. Even though this man had nothing in common with my children... Even though his family had 38 wonderful years and I had mere moments with my children, I know that when his mother looked into his face, she saw the face of her baby, this child that she birthed almost 4 decades ago. That doesnt change. They are always your baby, no matter how old they really are. It was crushing... I sat a the table, trying to find words where there are none, and silently sobbed, knowing that this family is grieving.

Tonight, no matter what you are doing, please do me this favor: stop and say a prayer. Say a prayer for the mothers and fathers mourning children; for the children mourning parents; for the brothers mourning sisters and the sisters mourning brothers. There is so much shared pain in the world; perhaps this prayer can help hold together someone else's broken heart.