Adventures in Churchgoing
I went to church with my parents this morning. This is the congregation that I grew up in, so I had several sweet old ladies come up to me with variations on “I knew you when you were this tall.” It was fun to see familiar face, but they’ve all gotten so much older when I wasn’t looking. And there are some faces which are conspicuously absent, which makes me sad. Some people are so vibrant it seems like it should be impossible for them to die. But they do. We all do eventually. Church was also filled with a host of new faces. I looked around and tried to picture how it would be if I ever came back to live in Livermore. It would be a strange mix of old and new. But after 15 years I can’t assume I really know anyone here. People change so much in that amount of time.
My mother came down sick yesterday, so she wasn’t able to teach Gleek in Primary. Fortunately my Dad filled in. She didn’t mind the substitution at all, she probably got away with lots more bouncing around than she would have if my mom had been there. Patches ran off to nursery happily. Then at some point he looked around and realized he was in a strange place with strange people. The nursery leaders brought him to me. He had tears streaming down his face and he clung to me. Howard followed us out into the hall. Then Howard asked Patches if he’d like Daddy to play cars with him. Patches nodded and the two of them went offto go play cars. Later Howard was able to come back and rejoin me in Sunday School.
Kiki decided that she didn’t want to be in Primary with her class. I asked her why and she declared it was because there was a girl in the class who didn’t like her. The fact that this girl didn’t like her made her feel unloved and lonely. I pinned her with my Mommy stare and informed her that the opinion of a girl we’ll see maybe once in two years should not matter to her. I required her to identify opinions which should matter to her. I further informed her, that if the opinion of this girl does not matter, then the girl has no power to hurt Kiki. I don’t know if any of my mini lecture stuck. I never can tell what is going on inside her head during these conversations.
And then we went home. Now we’re gearing up for all the Christmas eve events. It is nice to begin Christmas eve with church. It gives a nice feel to the day.