I woke an hour after I went to sleep and immediately turned off my alarm, set another one for 7:30, and went back to sleep.
I wasn't any more ready for the day 30 minutes later. Showered and dressed I gave Alice a dream feed to top off her tank and I left her cuddled in bed with Chris.
Mary Jane, Frankie, and john stayed back as well. It was nice to attend mass without the goof troop. The music was beautiful. So refreshing.
After mass I went to the turn and it spun around to reveal two half gallon glass jars of raw milk. Sister said we could use the milk on the homemade granola they left for us back in the apartment. Heaven in a glass. We reveled at the sheer thickness of the rope it made as we poured it into our bowls. We ate quickly because sister mag would be ready to visit at 9. Sister mag is short for the name my sister took upon entrance to monastic life. Sister Mary Agnes of the immaculate heart of Mary And the child Jesus OCD.
And OCD isn't short for obsessive compulsive disorder. It's short for order of Carmelites discalced. And discalced means "she ain't wearin' no shoes!"
Well- she wears sandals.
All year round.
In South Dakota.
Where it was currently 1 measly degree Fahrenheit.
It felt weird to announce to everyone- "hey everyone- it's one degree outside". It felt like saying Illinois for the first time after you learned how to spell it. Or Home Depot. Or buffet.
My mouth wanted to say "degrees" but "one" made me stop short.
We visited sister mag and it was great. I always feel a bit nervous. She is my sister but she entered when I was just 5- indeed today was her 31st anniversary of entering.
We talked about how she knocked so loud. I totally remember that. And I remember everyone crying. And I wondered why. Why were they crying? And why did she have to knock so loud?
"She has to knock loud so that the other sisters know she is serious"
And the great wooden door that stands to the right of the turn in the fabulous (and totally creepy to a 5 year old) buffalo, NY Carmel swung open and her new sisters stood making an acceptance line inside and flanking either side of the entrance. Their black veils that usually were folded back and on top of their wimpled heads were pulled forward to cover their faces as well and they all stood heads tilted downward in a humble sort of way.
From then on we met with her in the visiting room- a giant room with a wall dividing us- and in the wall a really giant window cut out and fitted with a metal grate. Well, actually two metal grates separated by about a foot. So even if she put her fingers through the spaces on her side and I put my fingers through on my side we couldn't touch.
When I was 5 though I could stick my arm up to my elbow in an opening. And I just wanted her to stick her hand in her side. But she would just smile and ask me about school or art or getting ready for first communion.
And there was a back room where they answered the phone when it rang. They = The extern nuns. They ran the little book shop. And one sister hid little sugared gummie candies in the shape of orange Slices in a jar on top of a shelf. And I didn't like going past the great wooden door to get to the jar. It was so big a mysterious and I felt that at any moment it would creak open and a yawning abyss would suck me in.
Today john had his magnadoodle and was drawing things as we visited. He drew the grate and showed her. It amazed me how cute he could draw a grate. It looked like a grid- but with an emphasis on the cute part of the grid. You know the cute part. Stop trying to pretend grids don't have a cute side.
We asked him to draw her and he kind of looked at her in a way that sized her up a bit and drew a tiny face with giant eyes in one of the squares towards the middle.
We left at 11 and were summoned back to the turn at noon where a delicious thanksgiving day meal was being passed through. Brined turkey, mashed potatoes (lest we forget the more humble yet equally important main course), gravy, stuffing, cranberry orange sauce, salad, and croissants. Oh- and the sour cream coffee cake. THE peek recipe one. The delicious one. With a little "1" candle in it for Alice.
After the meal I gave Alice a bath and nursed her down for a nap next to daddy. I went to the other room and passed out on the bed, still so utterly exhausted from the night before. I woke an hour and a half later feeling like I could sleep for another 5 hours and feel semi-rested. Sister mag had one more visitation before we left that night so I got everyone but the sleeping Chris and Alice ready and we headed across the frozen courtyard toward the cloister.
She told the kids some stories of when I was young- of the time before she entered.
She told them about how some months before she entered she got her wisdom teeth removed and afterward was swollen faced and had a gauze packed mouth. Christina and I waited on her, bringing her water and whatever else she needed. In return for our service we begged her to read us books- never mind she couldn't speak clearly enough for us to understand her.
She told Samantha how it was to have braces since Samantha is facing that fate in a few months. She asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. She exhibited an incredible poker face when none of them shared they felt a call to a religious vocation.
We gave a shadow group hug through the grate at the end of our visit.
We loaded up the camper in the cold and dark. I was relieved to find the camper wasn't defiled by the cat Henry found inside it earlier in the day. I doubt I would have kept a positive outlook riding in an RV with the scent of cat pee lingering.
We hit the road soon after 8 with Chris at the wheel.
I took over the wheel in Omaha at around 1 and drove until east of Kansas City a few hours later when Alice woke up.
Photos - Alice walks down the hallway connecting the shop with the visitation room at Alexandria Carmel. THE door is down at the end of the hall on the left.
And if you could walk straight through the wall at the end you'd end up in the turn.
Two bellevues with different weathers. One in Omaha and one in Washington.
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