The Embarrassment

For All My Grandkids,

Last Saturday, while I was at church with NoNo, I remembered something from a long time ago. It is funny to think about it today, but it was very embarrassing for me when it happened. It happened a long long time ago; around 1954, when I was only 10 years old.

I went to church that day. As usual, I went by myself, without my Mom or Dad. It was my habit to attend the early mass, and no one else in my house would be awake. My church was just a short walk from my house. The early mass was at 6:00 AM, really early. Most of the people that went to this mass were old (very old) Italian ladies. There were a few men, but not many, and then there was me, usually the only one under 20 years old. Our church, The Immaculate Conception, was one of many churches that were built for the many immigrants from the country of Italy. The priests were Italian and most of the people that attended the church were Italian.

Now, in those days, the priest used to say the mass in Latin. All the prayers were recited in the Latin Language. That was the way it was in every Catholic church. Everyone knew how to say the prayers, but hardly anyone knew what the words meant. Latin is a hard language to learn. When the priest gave his sermon, he gave it in the Italian language, for all the little old Italian ladies. Most of these ladies could speak fluently in the Italian language but they couldn't speak English very well. I didn't know Italian and I didn't know Latin when I was 10. So, for the most part, I used to spend my time in church thinking about God and thinking about the things I had done in the past week. God was always mysterious to me, and still is, but I spent the time daydreaming about him, what had passed and what was coming.

That brings us to the point of the great embarrassment. I have always been a daydreamer. You know what daydreaming is. You kind of go into a trance thinking about things. The daydreaming can be about things that happened, things that were going on currently, or things that were going to happen in the future. It could be about happy things or sad things. It could be about anything.

Well, on that day, I did some daydreaming at the wrong time. It was during the Nicene Creed (which is now called the Apostle's Creed, the prayer they say after the sermon). I don't remember what I was daydreaming about, but it must have been a good daydream. I totally missed the end of the prayer when everyone sits down. There I was; the only person in the church who was standing. I probably stayed in that daydream for a few minutes until, finally, one of the little old Italian ladies tapped me on the back to get me to sit down. How embarrassing is that?

I don't know why I remembered this incident which happened some 57 years ago. It is funny to think about it now, but you'll never know how stupid I felt when that lady tapped me on the back. I whirled around to see what she wanted, and then, slowly, it dawned on me that I was the only one in the church still standing. Duh! I slithered into my seat and tried to hide so no one could see me.

You know, I still daydream today; maybe not as deeply as I used to, but still pretty deep. I believe daydreaming has a useful purpose. It's a great way to reflect on where you've been and where you are going; on your successes and on your failures. It's a great way to plan the things you want to accomplish. You will have many successes and failures, too. Don't be afraid or discouraged by failures. Remember, even a failure can be an accomplishment if you learn something from it. And also remember, if you find yourself daydreaming, check in on what's going on around you every once in a while.

Love

PaPa