HT's First Communion

As we quickly approached HT's first communion, I commented that you could tell he wasn't our first.  When JR had his first communion, all three kids got new clothes, the reservations were made well in advance, and we gave lots of thought to his gift (which, four years later, I have no idea what it was).  Nine days before this one I was sitting with the mother of HT's best friend, who has three children the exact ages and genders as mine.  We were both commenting that the big event was only a few days away, and we basically hadn't given it the first thought.  I knew that both godparents, my in-laws, and two sets of family friends would be there, and that was about all the thought I had put into it.  After days of nagging, my husband finally made our lunch reservations and I knew that everyone had the clothes they needed.  JR and I went the Friday evening before (just about 38 hours prior!) to pick out HT's gift, and for the most part we decided on a small token and cash.  I spent about 45 minutes on Saturday evening trying to locate HTs' dress socks (seriously, this was cutting it a little close) and that was about the most effort I had put into it.  Then, this adorable little class of six second graders walked into Mass Sunday morning.  I had already taken pics of HT in his suit, and enjoyed seeing another of his friends, but seeing our friend Sophia did me in.  I've known her for so long, and seeing her dressed in the beautiful dress and veil put me over the edge.  There I sat bawling like a baby!  I'm sure many people thought I was emotional that my youngest was making this big first step, but reality was it was the others that made me so emotional.  That, and the fact that this really is such a great group of six kids and HT is good friends with almost all of them.  We were so grateful to share the day with so many good friends, who truly are like our family.