7 Quick Takes Friday #46

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

Where did the week go? I am certain I posted last week's 7 Quick Takes just yesterday, but my calendar tells a different story. So, okay, thinking about it, yes, there were at least seven days and at least seven events that framed there. So, here they be!

1. On Saturday, as I have written elsewhere on my blogs, we had Doah's birthday party at the local pizza factory. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the party except for Nikolina, who was being her typical cute little self and entertaining everyone with her smile and pleasant ways. I simply forgot to take any pictures of Doah! Of course, catching him standing still (I don't believe he sat once) would have been difficult anyway. Over time, we have come to know the crew that works at Pizza Factory, so when it came time for serving the birthday cake, we offered them some, too, as well as another person who was eating there and knew one of our partiers -- in a small town, this happens: everyone knows everyone and is only one degree of separation away and there is a lot of sharing that goes on even if you don't personally know the person with whom you are sharing.

2. On Sunday, I took my once-monthly trip to Campbell to the spirit seekers contemplative prayer group, led by Fr. Kevin. There I sat with friends I had made last summer at Fr. Kevin's retreat at our local St. Francis Retreat Center. They had been praying for my safe trip to and return from Afghanistan, and this was the first time we had met since then. Unlike at Doah's party, I did take pictures in Afghanistan but cannot use them because they were in militarily sensitive areas and the pictures are marked with geographical metadata that I am not smart enough to remove from them if that is indeed possible.

3. Prior to going to the spirit seekers' meeting, I attended the Spanish Mass at Old Mission. There I met Sr. M and followed her to the convent; she had tasks for me related to the next day's funeral Mass for Jack (see my post, A Simple Man). By then, I had learned through our organization's lawyer that the judge in Baltimore, where I had to testify in a case where an employee quit because he did not like being counseled for bad conduct and poor performance then sued us because he had felt like he had to quit (a nuisance case, little more) would let me testify on Tuesday, rather than Monday, so that I could attend the funeral. Sister asked me to take over for her on the Prayers of the Faithful. She had already begun to write them, so I finished writing them.

4. I read the prayers at the Funeral Mass on Monday. They were well received, and Jack's wife liked them a lot so I gave my copy to her. I also came early and helped Sr. M and some of the folks who work in our parish office set up for the pot luck that would follow the Mass. After spending some time at the potluck where I would have left earlier but Fr. E sat down with me and a couple of friends for the eating part and we got into an interesting discussion, I dashed home, packed, and sped to San Jose to catch a plane to Los Angeles, from where I took the red-eye to Baltimore. I lucked out and got a first class upgrade. The upgrade just appears sometimes as if by magic because I travel over 100,000 miles a year and am heading toward the million-mile mark for lifetime travel on United Airlines. (I also travel on other airlines and have earned free tickets on them, as well. I have never added up the real total number of miles a year. I think it would be scary.)

5. On Tuesday, I met that judge. I was the first to testify. Prior to stepping into the courtroom, our lawyer had told me that the judge was a little on the slow side, did not understand some of the basic personnel and legal concepts by which we operate. After giving my testimony, I went to lunch with our lawyer and his technical advisor. "Don't underestimate this judge," I suggested. "He is very senior, and I doubt that he would have gotten this far by being as 'dumb' as he acts. Rather, I think it is an act to see if all our supervisory personnel truly adhere to all the same policies. By asking for clarification and greater elucidation, he gets to see our thinking and is able to analyze the consistency among us in applying policy." Our lawyer thought that perhaps I was right. (Cartoon picture by Ken Ziobro.) At dinner that evening, we celebrated the successful end of two days of grilling at the Grille, an upscale Baltimore restaurant, a place to which I will return, it being the first restaurant outside New England where I have found lobster with reasonable prices and a chef who knows how to keep the meat sweet by poaching it, not broiling. Yum!

6. I left Baltimore early Wednesday morning, once again lucking out with an upgrade to First Class. (Cartoon from Dreamstime.) This time I could enjoy it because I did not sleep the entire trip; in fact, I did not sleep at all. However, the man beside me did, to his detriment. Unable to wake him up and thinking that if he were so soundly asleep, I (yes, little short me) could slip past him without waking him up. No such possibility -- I tipped his remaining drink (fortunately, water) all over him. That woke him up!

7. Thursday evening was back to life as usual although I am not sure anyone would easily find a part of my life to label "usual." Every other Thursday evening Old Mission holds catechism classes, and I am a catechist for the first-year confirmation group (about which I have blogged here before: click here to see some of those posts.)There the director of religious education pulled me aside to tell me that the one young man who has come into the faith formation process late in the process and to whom we had given catch up reading to do had encountered difficulty. His mother had approached the director and told her that her son, a high school sophomore cannot read. "Wow," I though, "I know that we are sliding backwards in this country in terms of literacy, but a 16-year-old who truly cannot read??" I offered to work with him orally after class and in Spanish if necessary to help him understand and learn at least the minimum. So, I did. As it turns out, reading skills are not the real problem; he actually does cope all right with the mechanics of reading and reads orally no worse than many of the young adults in the class. His problem, instead, seems to be some kind of cognitive deficit. I tried to work with him on the Lord's prayer but ran out of time. I gave him the words in Spanish to take home so his parents can help him. He knows none of the Old Testament stories, and he has no concept of faith. He seems to be going through life on automatic pilot. He does not participate in class. We thought he was shy, but now I think that he cannot follow the repartee of the other students, and it is not because of lack of English skills. He is bilingual, but he does not make the connections that usually the left-brain handles automatically for everyone, particularly analysis. Nor does he seem able to apply anything discussed to his own life. I wonder if any readers have had successful catechesis experiences with learning disabled or cognitively impaired children. I would love suggestions.

And now, bedtime! I have had little contact this week with a real bed, so this is going to be a pleasure! Wishing you all a peaceful weekend with lots of sweet sleep...