friday

friday i awoke to the alarm and found henry's bed empty. i showered, dressed, and headed out for mass. on the way out i was met by henry. he was coming to wake me up.
"where have you been?"
"just in the chapel, praying."
this, the same boy who grudgingly goes to church, misbehaves the entire time, and cleans his nails after communion instead of praying. this trip turned out to be such a blessing on our whole family, but especially henry. he talks about wanting to be a priest. he asks to go to daily mass when we return home. he wants to serve mass for father jack. he has been showing maturity- both physically and spiritually. it's beautiful to watch.
the retired bishop of brooklyn said mass for us. after mass i wrapped up some packing before meeting with sister. george said his goodbyes to the grey kitty- giving it some raw milk.
we said goodbye to bruce and exchanged information. i don't doubt he had a big effect on henry- his charism and his patience ran deep. i'm so thankful to God for sending bruce into our lives. our family will pray everyday for him.
after lunch we headed back over to say goodbye to sister and mother. mother told the kids there were presents for them in the turn. she shared holy face medals with us and holy face crucifixes. she also gave us a 8.5x11 image of the holy face to venerate in our home. the kids held up a brown rosary and asked who it was for. she bent down a little to catch chris' eye through the grill.
"that's for your dad," and she pointed at him.
we got into the car and headed out. i don't remember leaving the city. i passed out 15 minutes into the trip after having told chris the route from the map. i never have slept so soundly in a car before. i awoke three hours later somewhere in delaware. we continued to aberdeen, maryland to pick up my purse. driving through annapolis inspired me to call dad and ask about his foot surgery earlier that day. he sounded great. i also spoke with fr. kevin who was at the house loading the moving truck for his trip to colorado. he arrived back from iraq sometime tuesday i believe- praise God.
we traveled on the unique chesapeake bay bridge-tunnel down to virginia beach where we slept soundly that night.