Oh my! My normally shy daughter has been talking to our Monsignor, he wanted to know how she was settling into her new house. Really well she said and told him how she had got a Wii for her birthday and they had a new kitten called Charlie who was a girl at first but Mum took him to the vets and got them to look at his bumhole to find out whether he was a boy or a girl.
I can't believe my daughter said bumhole as everyone was leaving church and to Monsignor of all people. As for Monsignor her turned a shade of puce from all the laughing he did. Oh my goodness.
As if things couldn't get any worse my mother took them to get candles lit at the back of the church and let Libby set fire to her coat.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
A good thing Father Xmas monitors all such events - I'm sure he's jotted down something nice for Libby, as I'm sure she'll need a new coat well before December!
As for the Monsignor - further proof that a compassionate clergyman is a blessing to all the lives he (or she) touches.The more grace with which they walk their tightropes, the more they are loved & admired.
Interesting sidenote: "bumhole" is not unknown in Northern New England, but is often heard euphemised among certain oldsters as "bunghole", like what one would drive to tap a barrel of spirits. Intriguing for me, given my family's frequent bootlegging background.
I wish my father saw it that way, it's once in a blue moon that they come to church with me and my kids preferring to do their worshipping in peace at another church.
Monsignor is a very nice guy and quite forward looking, thank heavens, for a clergyman. He was my parish priest when I was 'living in sin' he knew and never berated me. He didn't bother when we married in Florida instead of his church and he's on friendly terms with my husband despite him being a none believer. I credit Monsignor's forward thinking for being one of the reasons that hubby agreed to letting our kids have a Catholic education. If my priest had behaved as they did twenty/thirty years ago he wouldn't have agreed.
Still feel mightily embarrased though.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
I don't mean to hijack your thread but when you said;
"If my priest had behaved as they did twenty/thirty years ago he wouldn't have agreed".
Actually, go back another 10 years (40 total), and that is literally the reason I have so much trouble with the Catholic religion. Two priests in the same parish, one young, one middle-aged, treated a problem I had with two entirely different attitudes. One refused to give me absolution after confession, while the other praised me later that evening for being so intelligent about a medical problem that was not my fault. Although I had questions in high school, this episode which occurred 5 years later, is what really started me thinking and pulling away.
Discussing movies and actors I will give my opinion with no restraint except to watch my language, but when asked possible life altering advice, I prefer to keep my ideas to myself and suggest professional help. Obviously Monsignor is enlightened enough to realize he was speaking to a young person who was speaking in the vernacular of her age group. Forty years ago he may have told her to go home and pray to God to cleanse her thoughts of filth. So much damage can be done by a person you admire, yet on the other hand, so much freedom of spirit can be obtained in the same way.
Personally I probably would have burst into laughter at her choice of words and embarrassed myself.
.
Anne
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Omigosh, that gave me such a laugh!
You are so fortunate to have such a, uh, forthright child.
I hope Libby's coat is salvageable.
Thanks for sharing this story.
My favorite family story lately is about my nephews Will and his younger brother Jeb. They went to day camp this summer and on the final day, Jeb was awarded a Best Space Cadet Ribbon. When asked by his family what science-related project might have won him that award, Jebbie said he was only singled out "'Cause I wander away alot." Not surprisingly, Will received the Big Brother Award; reportedly in part because he spent much of his time finding his brother and getting him back on track with the rest of the campers!
Our Jeb lives in a world of his own, populated by pirates, knights, Mom and Dad, his brother and sisters and numerous dogs. Will already seems mature for his years, but has learned to be a good shepherd (he's six and Jeb is four).
Mine are 6 and 4 and if the 4 year old had said it I wouldn't have been so taken aback. As my husband tried to reason, everything has a name and that is an apt description of part of the anatomy of a cat. Oh brother.
This is the same little girl who had her friend in to play last week, they dressed up and came downstairs and in allearnest asked me if I thought they were sexy. No, no, no I thought. You do not understand that word. Instead I said that sexy was not a nice thing to be but they were both very pretty girls who looked lovely in whatever they wear. Which is the truth.
Then we had the request for a mobile phone because one of her other friends has one(this other particular friend has everything). They are just about to turn 7, I thought she wanted a pretend one but no a real one. My little girl is not going to allowed to grow into the adult world quite as quickly as she'd hoped.
Anne, I appreciate your sentiments about the tolerance of the Catholic church 40 years ago. Our sermon yesterday was about the rules about not eating meat on Friday and fasting from midnight before you took communion the next day. The point was that we'd lost our way with these rules that had no bearing on the soul. So much has changed.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
I took the 3 year old and two 8 year olds out to eat Saturday. I asked the 3 year old where she wanted to eat (thinking she'd say McDonalds).
She said, 'The chinese place. I had Mexican last night."
One thing that Chris and I still laugh about is when we went to Disneyland Paris. Joe was 2 and a half. The waiter asked him what he wanted to drink. Joe said 'Orange' 'L'Orange' said the waiter with a lovely French accent 'No' said Joe adamantly 'Orange' . Well this went on and on with the adults laughing and laughing at Joe who was getting quite worked up that French l'orange would not be to his taste.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
Digging up another old thread for a funny story. That is it is always funny when it is not you.
A friend of mine (honest) recently had his wife deployed for six months to Iraq. About three weeks before she was to arrive he sent her a rather amorous and passionate email anticipating her return. Well, almost. He actually sent it to her father by mistake.
Mortified when her father pointed out his error he told his wife about it. She, for some reason, suggested he call her father. "And tell him what?" was his reply.
The good news is that his wife is home and apparently all is well with his in-laws.
The lesson is if you must email be really, really careful.
Chris
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
My son told his headmistress that when we were on holiday in France his Mum was drunk every afternoon. It wasn't true, we visited the caves were I would sample the wine on offer as I was the passenger but I never drank more than a glass in total and was always capable of making our evening meal. I don't think he knows what drunk is, he's never seen me drunk (chance would be a fine thing these days) but he thinks drinking means drunk. Oh dear, I'll be on the register of bad mothers.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
A long time ago when I was in high school my history teacher asked if my mother was coming to a Parent Teacher Night. I told her that Mom would not be there as it was her night to hit the bars. (I got along real well with my teacher.) Mom went. Hell would not keep her from going. When the teacher asked me about it the next day I told her Mom had worked real hard and manged to reschedule everything to the next night.
My mother is a saintly woman who has never really had a drink. Because of that I have been entertaining people with outrageous stories about Mom for 35 years. (Yes, she still apparently loves me.)
Chris
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
No harm done. Everyone's had a good laugh now including me. Oh, not about Libby's coat though!
