First Communion

Michael made his first Communion today. He's such a big kid that I can't believe it.

This picture is of him at the reception afterward. If he looks relaxed, I think he is. He did the second reading today, and though it was only two sentences, I think he was nervous. I know I was nervous. He got to the pulpit, tapped the microphone to see if it was working, read the reading (which he's been practicing for two weeks), and stepped down. We were so proud.

The Mass was really nice. I wonder if my family came away from my Communion Mass so uplifted. I think Michael was nervous as well receiving the Eucharist for the first time. The ceremony was designed to that we would be right there observing him taking Communion for the first time, so we saw him eat the wafer, almost forget which hand he needed to make the sign of the cross with, and take the wine (I forgot to asked him how it tasted). Lori was tearing up off and on during Mass, and at that moment, I tried hard not to as well. My first son is a big kid, and he has been for some time, not just because he made his first Communion (and not because he's so damn tall for his age). Today was another milestone, just like his baptism, the day he started walking, the day he started riding a two-wheeler, his first day of kindergarten.

After Mass, we went to Buca di Beppo's for dinner, and we were seated at the Pope's table. We had every grandparent in town this weekend, and it meant so much for them to be here. The boys closed out the long day swimming with Grandpa Jim and getting frozen yogurt. We've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. It lived up to its expectations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer, Day 8

Today was Memorial Day, and as far as Memorial Days go, this one seemed somewhat anticlimactic. The sun came out after three less-than-stellar days, perhaps preventing the weekend from being a total bust. I worked late last night but was awake earlier than I wanted to be this morning. I fell back asleep and woke up around 10:30 to a thumping sound outside. Michael, Lori and my father-in-law got the rest of the sand in the base of the new basketball hoop, and Michael and his friend from across the street were shooting around. This was Lori's parents' last day in Utah, so we treated them to The Cheesecake Factory at the new City Creek mall downtown. I had the macaroni and cheese burger and most of a piece of Oreo cheesecake (no matter how much I pushed on my sons -- they wanted to share Lori's banana cream cheesecake). The boys and I wandered City Creek a little and came home. The afternoon wasn't much more eventful. Michael and I took Popcorn to the park for about
Read more

Vacation finale

Image
As expected, the last three days of vacation were much less eventful than the first 12. This happens every year -- we get back from Wisconsin for at least one day before leaving for Utah, and it's just wind-down time. And that's OK -- going nonstop for two weeks isn't easy, especially with kids. And vacation is supposed to be a time to relax, and for the past three days, that's what we did. The past few days weren't that relaxing, however. Monday, we met my mom, who is in Chicago this week, for lunch and then to Old Orchard Mall. That night, we met some friends at the new Superdawg (my favorite Chicago hot dog restaurant) in Wheeling. Tuesday, after pondering going downtown, we ended up just seeing the Smurfs movie with my dad. Last night, we went to dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant here in Edgebrook. Wednesday was mostly devoted to getting ready for our return trip Thursday morning. The heat and thunderstorms finally subsided -- this might have been the m
Read more

Nine days after the solstice

Image
The summer solstice was nine days ago, but I'm only now getting around to writing my annual reflection that is supposed to be created on the first day of summer. Nine days ago, I was frenetically trying to finish up work and get ready for a road trip to Denver, where Benji was competing in a swim meet. We got back Monday afternoon, but I was too exhausted to come up to my usual spot in Donner Park. The last three nights were overcast (though the skies cleared a little too late to embark on my quest last night), spoiling the goal of watching the sunset. So, nine days later, I'm finally here. And now that I am, I'm not totally sure what to write about. To say the last year has been a blur would be cliche, and I don't think it's gone faster than any other past year. But I've been struggling to wrap my head around the current summer and, thus, what's really on my mind. I could write about how we're a year away of having two kids in college and being sort of
Read more