Humor

Some of my favorite kid comedic moments have happened in church. I think part of the reason they are so funny is that church is often supposed to be a solemn and serious place, and not necessarily jovial. My kids have had some funny moments though! I remember one time when HT was two, or had just turned three. We attended a very large church in a neighboring community. My husband always wanted to sit in the very first pew so that it would encourage the kids to pay attention. HT has never had a terribly long attention span, and as toddlers do, he was messing around with other things during Mass. In this particular instance he had leaned over the front of the pew, and you can imagine the reaction of us all when suddenly he is sitting there holding a piece of the decorative molding that he had managed to remove. I heard several giggles and chuckles coming from the pew behind us, and I'm not sure which they thought was funnier, the surprised expression on HT's face or the looks of horror on the faces of my husband and I. Another funny moment occurred at the same church when JC was four. We had at that time an absolutely wonderful priest, who has since passed away. This man was a very large man, and honestly, I remember his homilies, some of the shortest ever, better than I remember things that happened yesterday. I think that speaks to how wonderful he was as a priest that he could get his point across so concisely. Anyway, he had a weekend off, and a visiting priest was coming down the aisle. JC announced, "That's not our God. That's a different God!" Again, we could hear chuckles all around us. The most memorable though, involved HT who had just that week turned four. By this time we had switched to a very small church that was located in our very small town. It was the end of the year, and Father was giving us a blessing for the New Year that included Holy Water. As we were sprinkled, HT announced (rather loudly), "Hey! He got me wet!" This time, because it was otherwise silent, and again a rather small church, we could hear laughter and chuckles coming from across the entire sanctuary.

I don't have a JR church story, but I do remember when he was six and he very much wanted to earn some extra money. We told him that he could be responsible for feeding the cats every day and earn an allowance that way. He was very excited about this, and ran over to the food cupboard. He opened it, looked in, and said, "Hm, I wonder what they like to eat." My husband and I got quite a chuckle about this, the fact that he thought they ate people food. JR doesn't remember this, but last year for school when he had to write a humorous story about something from his childhood, this was his choice.

I am so unbelievably grateful for these beautiful and amazing children, and for everything (especially the humor) that they bring to our lives!