The Phone Call

In early February I received a phone call from our niece Julia. She asked me if I could sponsor her for her Confirmation.  Confirmation is one of the seven sacraments that you must make; this particular sacrament seals your Baptism and First Holy Communion, making you stronger in your faith.

Sponsor

Since teaching Confirmation classes for three years, I have developed a deeper spiritual understanding of this sacrament and the role of a sponsor. So I added Julia to my daily prayers.

The Planning

As soon as I shared the news with Mike, he immediately searched for flights. I made sure that the dates did not conflict with the two classes I was teaching at St. Norbert. Since Torie no longer lived in New Orleans, we decided to visit with my sister Jo and her other sons.

Torie made reservations for us to stay in the cottages of their country club. My sister Jo and Myra, Stacie’s mother, would stay at their home.

Torie

Torie owns and operates an insurance agency in Gretna, which is located on the West Bank across the Mississippi River. Torie and his wife Stacie decided to move from their home in New Orleans to an open countryside part of Northern Louisiana. This  came as a shock to the rest of the family: one, because they were leaving their extended family behind and two, Torie would have to commute twice a week from Gretna to Choudrant, which is a four-and-a-half-hour drive.  So Tuesday morning Torie leaves at the crack of dawn and on Thursday, after a day’s work, he hits the road for the long drive home.

Stacie

Stacie recently opened a brick and motor boutique called “Adore.” I purchased a pair of dressy/casual shoes and a black dress from her shop. More on that later.

Jo

I talk to my sister Jo on a regular basis, and we were both getting excited for the visit. I shared with her that I already had two dresses to choose from to wear for the ceremony at the church. I don’t normally need an excuse to shop, but this was a special occasion and I could not find the right dress.

The Two Dresses

I described the dresses that I wanted to wear for the event to Jo: a canary yellow spaghetti strapped dress or a bright pink sleeveless dress. Before I could finish  she said, “You can’t wear that, you’re almost 80 years old.  You can’t wear a strapless dress!” “You didn’t let me finish. I’m wearing a lightweight ruana to cover my shoulders,” I added.” No! It’s out of the question, you’re going to Stacie’s boutique and buying something decent to wear.” I ignored her because both of my dresses are  beautiful.

Myra

Myra, Stacie’s mother, hitched a ride with us to Choudrant. Before she closed the door to the vehicle, Jo announced, “Guess what Lynda’s wearing to the church? A strapless dress!” “You can’t wear that! It’s a Confirmation and you’re the sponsor, uh–huh, no, no, no!” was Myra’s response. Once again I made another attempt to explain, but they would not listen. Instead they formed an alliance against me that lasted the duration of the trip. To them I was a know it all who did not know what to order for dinner and my taste in clothing was too loud. We had great laughs!

I knew I had worn the pink dress before but I could not find the photo, but without a date and over 7,000 photos it was a lost cause.

The Drive

On the way to Choudrant we listened to Matthew McConaughey’s book Greenlights on audio. This helped break the monotony of the long trip.

Duck Dynasty

The following day, while Mike and Tori played a round of golf, Stacie, Jo, Myra, Jake, Tyson and I traveled to West Monroe to visit the Duck Dynasty Museum. We were all pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the experience.

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The Food

I cannot recall all the restaurants we visited – from the outdoor pizza place to the food trucks, everything was fabulous! On the day of the ceremony we decided to eat at the food trucks. With all the great choices I ordered an Acai bowl. But when Myra sat down with a sweet potato smothered with pulled pork and drizzled with white cheese, I no longer wanted the Acai bowl. Mike brought me my own sweet potato with all the fixings. I shared it with Julia. Before the end of lunch I had pretty much sampled everyone’s meal. By 2 o’clock we were back in our room, getting ready for the event. I decided to wear the pink dress with the lightweight ruana covering my shoulders.

The Volcano

As soon as I got dressed, something did not feel right. I felt my stomach expand and a little discomfort. By the time we reached Torie’s home there was definitely seismic activity in my belly. I looked for Jo and said, “I don’t feel well, I think I’m going to throw up.” “Go drink warm salt water and you’ll be fine,” she said. But I was not! In the small bathroom near the kitchen, the eruption took place. I quickly removed my colorful ruana but could not control the eruption, I was a mess, and my beautiful pink dress was soiled!

The Decision

As I exited the bathroom Torie looked at me and asked, “What are you going to do?” “I’m going to throw up again,” I answered. They were already running late and Julia was waiting for my arrival at the church when I said, “I can’t go, I’m too sick!” They all said,”Oh, no! What are we going to do?”

The Disappointment

I was so sick that all I wanted to do was rid myself of the rancid taste of the sweet potato followed by the pulled pork. Of course Mike stayed behind to take care of me. Remember we are in the middle of nowhere and the nearest drugstore was 20 minutes away. Through  the grace of God, he got to a drugstore. He purchased a bottle of Pedialyte and Dramamine. I was the only one who came down with this mysterious illness. I crawled back into bed and experienced several more eruptions.

My Proxy

Poor Julia was completely surprised to see her Uncle Rocky in my place.”Where is Aunt Lynda?” “She’s sick,” Rocky answered. Yes, I missed the main event! All the planning, the two dresses, the fancy ruana – nothing mattered. I do not know why this happened to me because we all shared each others’ meals. There is a Bible verse that explains this matter:

It was well into the evening when I finally felt a little better. Remember the black dress I purchased at Stacie’s boutique? As I was in mourning from missing Julia’s Confirmation, I wore it. I pulled myself together and made it to the celebration.

Crawfish Boil

As much as I wanted to eat crawfish, the small seismic activity I still felt kept me from eating anything.

Julia

When I asked Julia how she felt when she was anointed with the Chrism Oil  she said,  “At first I was worried that it would fall on my dress, but then I felt something warm go through my body.” “That was the Holy Spirit sealing you,”I  answered. In the end that’s all that mattered.

My Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, Bless all catechumens to be faithful and to grow in the knowledge of Your Holy Presence. Amen.