Zahm Mass
I went to Mass at Zahm tonight, it felt good to be back. And good to go to Mass again; the last two Sundays i've actually gone to Saturday night Mass, and I haven't gone to daily Mass at all really, so it's nice to get back into that routine. Mass in a dorm is always interesting, however, and Zahm in particular offers many distractions. There's some tradition of running and yelling on Wednesday nights at 11, and Mass is at 10:30 so 11 is usually right during consecration or communion.
Tonight was especially interesting...there were tons of drilling and hammering going on, and then soon after the homily someone started playing music really loud. Luckily it started with something that was actually applicable in a weird way: the song "you can run, you can hide, but you can't escape my love" played right during the consecration. I tried to think about it in a God-way and not be distracted and it kind of worked.
Then...the priest said that this Mass was being offered for our intentions and paused for a moment of silence -- as the Beatles came on: "Ah, look at all the lonely people..." I'm hoping that was less applicable and that everyone's intentions weren't for future mates or something like that.
Finally, we said the "Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed" prayer, followed immediately by the strains of "Daydreamer." Now, God coming into our lives is pretty amazing, but I really hope it's more than a daydream!
In other news...add this to the list of things I forgot: coffee mugs, shower shoes.
It's Kaitlin's 21st birthday today (it's technically Tuesday now). I have three classes tomorrow, all history. It's the opening school Mass. And the picnic to follow. Yay!
"Are your comments concise and to the point? Are your thoughts ordered and logically connected to the current topic of conversation? Are you punctual? If so, you may need to leave. You are in opposition to everything this room stands for." -- Kaitlin.
Back
When I typed in the title, three options came up in the little drop down menu: "Back at ND," "Back Home," "Back to life, back to reality..." I guess I'm not all that creative.
being back here has been nice. It's helpful that I'm also going home in a few days so there was less pressure when leaving home. Meaning I left a ton of stuff at home. Well, not a ton: my pillow, the carpet, my glasses, a notebook...
Dinner tonight was fun. We were silly and stole Chris' cake when he wasn't looking, smeared frosting on our lips, and pretended that we had eaten it all. He believed us too.
Kaitlin and John are clearly made for eachother. John was on retreat all day so he didn't get to see Kaitlin when she came in this afternoon. Then when we were eating he came in with his retreat group and sat right behind us and didn't see us. Then we saw him and pointed him out to Kaitlin and she didn't see him either.
So...pranks, giggles, acting like we're five, feminine intuition used against the boys (and very nice boys putting up with us), unpacking, books, cursing the bookstore, football ticket lottery...yup, I'm back.
Now I'm off to the grotto to meet up with some people from Erasmus :) and then who knows after that, except i'll be parietals boo. Oh well -- it just proves I'm back I guess. :)
so 10 weeks later
obviously i haven't posted at all this summer, meaning probably nobody will read this. i'm kind of just writing now for my own peace of mind...one of the things i've learned in college is that you have to give yourself time to reflect and process things before you actually learn anything from life experience. like freshman year really needs the summer to be complete.
funny, thinking of last summer as teh summer after my freshman year makes me feel really young. i sort of thought i was farther removed from freshman year than that.
this summer has been good, and yet hard. good because i did some amazing things, like the erasmus institute, and i hung out with my friends a lot (more than last summer), and i generally liked my job. i was home more than last summer and slipped back fairly easily into the family routine. at the same time, its been tough because i've been worried about making enough money and working enough. i tend to relax best only if i feel i "deserve" it and so a lot of my slower days at home were spent feeling frusterated that i wasn't accomplishing anything. the being home more and the frustration often made me snippier too, especially with my mom...but its been better lately. it's also been a little bit of a tough finish too, what with my grandparents moving and vacation bible school this week and the scares about my mom's health and the guitar store manager quitting. Man i'm glad that my parents are going to be able to drive me to school...because the last three days i've been pretty much completely responsible for life at home because my parents are helping my grandparents and if they were to give me the added responsibility of getting myself to school i might just flip.
i don't really have much more to say. i'm not ready to go back to school, as usual, but i'm more excited about it than i was last year (or, clearly, the year before!) i wish my school life and my home life didn't have to be so separate. No actually what i wish, i think, is that the whole concept of the Notre Dame family were more true. I miss that overarching guiding principle when i'm at school; i don't like having every decision involve me and me only. which is ironic, seeing as i spent the first half of this post complaining about having too many responsibilties at home.
and i've spent pretty much the entire post complaining. psh. life is beautiful and God is good. enough said.
