I counted on there being at least 70 people based on the invitations & the calls we didn’t get (it was ‘regrets only’). With all of Stephen’s “maybes’ counted in, that figure shot up to 85. The actual # was 60. I never had 60 guests before. I don’t think I sat down for more than 15 minutes the entire day.
For the most part, the young adults were outside doing things like tequila shots and the older folks were inside. Turns out it was good that old people were inside because my family is a bunch of trouble makers. When my cousin went out back by the tent, she started a food fight. At another point in the evening, we heard a lot of commotion coming from outside. We looked out by the driveway to see a group of kids running out towards the street and one of Steve’s friends with a hose. The group that was running had picked up one of the tubs that held drinks & ice and had dumped the entire tub on the boy with the hose.
The only bad spot in the day was when my sister had to leave, about 20 minutes after we got back to the house. She has a stint in her kidney and it was either blocked or infected so yesterday she had surgery to replace it. She was in so much pain & she was so pissed that it had to happen then & force her to miss the party.
I pretty much too no pictures. I am hoping some of my relatives got some decent ones. The pictures from inside the church came out awful. This was one of the better ones:
This is Stephen presenting himself to the bishop.
The only photos I got of the gang outside, I don’t want to post because they show everyone’s faces way too clearly but here’s a shot of the tent before the party:
With all the hullabaloo about the weather, we decided maybe we better put sides up on the tent. We got 2 side up and decided it would be incredibly hot with all 4 on.
Overall, it was a wonderful send-off for Steve. And now we begin the count down to when he actually leaves (3 weeks).
Oh Mama. My son is just away at summer camp, and has actually sent me a couple of emails and made a call or two and there is an ache in my heart I never suspected I would experience. And he’s only going a couple of hours away for college this fall. Denial really works for me.
On the other hand, the fact that your son is seeking such an admirable and useful and meaningful life, – well that aches too, in a good way, you know?
Incidentally it is strictly forbidden to let my son know I wrote this.
[quote comment="2903"]Incidentally it is strictly forbidden to let my son know I wrote this.[/quote]
Heh. Yep, know what ya mean.
Far as Stephen goes, yeah, it’s a strange place I’m in. I’m incredibly proud of him – that he was selected to go to Rome, that he’s willing to basically sacrifice his entire life in the service of others. And on the other hand, I hate the idea that he will be so far away for so long.
One cool thing (which, by the way, you may want to consider yourself when your son goes of to college) is the whole webcam thing. Steve doesn’t have one yet but I bought one and Theresa’s new laptop has a built in one. We signed up for Skype. You can log on like on AIM but you can see & talk to the other person. Theresa has a friend in Texas who also has Skype and they’ve been talking on that every day. This same friend is coming to stay with us for a week in July. I told him I feel like he’s moved in already because she’ll come walking down with her laptop with him on it, chatting away. It’s pretty cool.
And the point of that rambling is that I intend to use that a lot with Steve, whether he likes it or not. If I can see him, I won’t feel like he’s so far away.
In 3 weeks you will be doing tequila shots.
I have one of the old webcams that lets me see whomever I am talking with, but I still have to type to them instead of talk….but with my internet service I should be glad to just see someone.
I hope your sis is doing better!
Three weeks, huh? Do you get to visit? Does he get to come home at all? It’s got to be such internal conflict: proud yet sad.
From an outsider’s standpoint though, I think it’s incredible! We (Catholics in general) need young energetic priests, and it seems as though Stephen fits that pretty well. And he’s got a great personality/sense of humor to boot.
Yup, to what Lanny said
. Even though I’m not a “we” I have often felt like I should be a “we”–ya know? 