Funny Guy Friday… Blessed Mothers… Blessed Babies...

     Funny Guy Friday is written each week by my husband Mark.  So… I married a funny guy...
     On New Year's Day, we went to church for the Feast of Mary. A great way to bring in the new year.
     On most Sundays, we go to the 10 o'clock Mass, or, as I like to call it, the 10:03 Mass. You see, we have a bad habit of being a few minutes late. We always sit in the same area of the church. I would like to say that we always sit in the same pew, but there is that 10:03 issue.
     There have been occasions when we have had to give up our first row pew to some goody two shoe early birds. If I weren't such a good Catholic, I would say that I hate those goody two shoes.
     We don't really know everyone in our section, but we do recognize most of the regulars.
     A few months ago, a young mom, who typically sits in the next section over, was trespassing in our section. Again, she is a regular church goer so we kind of knew who she was without actually knowing her.
     On this particular Sunday, she was alone with her two infant twin daughters. Believe it or not, she and her husband also have two toddler sons, who were safely tucked away in the basement with a whole congregation of pre-K kids… and some poor teenage babysitter getting service hours for her high school.
     One of the twins was giving her mother fits, so Cheryl offered to hold the "good one."
     Cheryl... what are you… crazy? Do you really expect this woman to hand over one of the most precious things in her life to you… a complete stranger? 
     Of course Cheryl did expect the woman to hand her baby over… and of course, the young mom did, in fact, hand that baby right over. Then she scooped the squirmy one up and made a bee line to the crying area. After a few minutes, I was holding the baby in the back of the church doing the rocking-standing thing that you do whenever you hold a baby. Everyone knows this instinctive, involuntary rock. I sang to the baby and fought the urge to kiss her on the top of the head. She was very cute.
     Once Mass was over, we reluctantly returned "our" baby to her rightful owner and spent a few minutes chatting with the mom. As usually happens when chatting with people at church, we discovered that we know a lot of the same people and even learned that she reads this very blog.
     We also learned that she lives near us, and Cheryl offered up our services to babysit if she ever needs a break. This was one of those sincere offers that you never really expect to be accepted. But Cheryl extended the offer with the knowledge that our kids love babies, and what could be better than watching two babies at one time.
     Unfortunately, this woman's mother got sick around Thanksgiving, and she had to take Cheryl up on the offer so she could spend some time with her mom. So my family got the chance to spend an entire day with the baby girls. When I got home from work, I asked Grace if she had done any homeschooling that day. I knew she had not, so I was surprised when she quickly replied that she had done some math.
     You did not. You watched those babies all day. 
     That's right, Dad, I did babies squared!
     Anyway, when we arrived at church on January 1st, we took our seats in our usual section and our new friend arrived with the girls and sat in the pew behind us. I was a bit surprised to see her because her mother had, sadly, recently passed away. Ten minutes into the Mass, one of the girls started acting up again, so I turned to offer my assistance. I never even got the chance to say anything because mom was practically throwing "our" baby at me. Once again, she made a bee line to the crying area leaving us alone with the golden child (for the record, I have no idea which baby is which, but I do know that I always get the good one).
     The twins have gotten older, and they now have sharp teeth…. and long nails. They like to bite... and pinch....and squeeze cheeks… and pull noses. It was great. Halfway through Mass, I turned to Cheryl, who was a few seats away, and whispered let's have another one. 
     Chuckling, Cheryl turned to the woman sitting to her right and told her what I had said. This woman turned to me, shook her head and mouthed NO WAY! I hope this woman didn't think that I wanted to have another baby with her.
     A lot of thoughts went through my mind as I held that baby.
     First, I thought of our new friend and how she recently lost her mother. I had never met her mother, but everyone speaks very highly of her. I do know that she must have been a pretty good mom herself because she seems to have done a great job with her daughter. With the possible exception of trusting strangers maybe a little too much, she, in turn, does a great job now with her kids.
     This, of course led me into thinking of my own dad and how much I still miss him.
     I also thought of my own kids, and how I used to hold them in church. How I wish that they could all stay little and be with me forever. I always tell Noah that he has to stop growing because the other two are just getting too big.
     It isn't working; they all keep getting older. They never listen!
     I also could not help but think that this was the perfect Mass to have on the first day of the new year. A little shout out to the Blessed Mother to look over us and care for us all throughout this new year.
     Finally, I sat in that pew and thought I wonder if Mary ever handed her Son over to a complete stranger?
    The answer is obvious. She handed the most precious thing in her life over to an entire world full of strangers. For that, we can all be thankful.        
    I hope you and your families all have a blessed year in 2013.