Unfortunately, it is against the law (and not a good idea anyway at 70mph) to take the baby out of the cot while the car is moving. So for a while she told us loudly and in no uncertain terms "I . AM . NOT . HAPPY!!!" The baby's godfather was with us on the journey and gently encouraged her to be reasonable. Sadly this met with no notable success.When we managed to stop at a service station, the complaint was expanded to "My nappy needs changing, I didn't get enough milk last time, I'm a bit tired, I'm fed up with sitting in this stupid contraption, and anyway, just AAAARGH!" Mum pointed out that this was the first time that she had changed a baby's nappy in a priest's car. It was in fact the first time that anyone has changed a baby's nappy in my car.
When we got to Cambridge, baby had calmed down a little, and I met her older brother whom I have not seen since just after he was born. He needed (but did not want) to go to bed and in the meantime, dad (who is on the last leg of his Cambridge doctorate) cooked up a delicious thai green curry and gave me some top grade advice on various combinations of mobile computing, open-source software and 3G internet access.
As I sometimes point out when speaking about celibacy, there are joys and trials in any vocation - it is good for me as a priest to spend even a little time with a young family managing the ordinary daily ups and downs of life with young children.
10 comments:
So funny Fr!Perhaps I should have been a nun..I don't even like kids!
I have two little ones myself, and I can tell you, life gets rather hectic at times. Marriage and family is certainly a pathway to true sanctification, as one's patience is tested on a daily basis...
For all the above reasons:
So. Glad. I. Don't. Have. Children.
SO GLAD.
Was and only child raised by a single mother. My life, in otherwords, has always been very very
QUIET.
Jackie - ROFL!
Ah, but having children has been the greatest, most wondrous blessing of my life (after returning to the Catholic faith, of course). To pray the Hail, Mary every morning and night with my little one, to see her struggle to make the sign of the Cross and finally get it, to teach her about Jesus and see her learn to love Him, to raise them in holiness and know their souls will sing of God's glory for all eternity--how many thousands of ways my little ones bless me! I used to wish I were a cloistered Carmelite nun, but God saved the profound joy of motherhood for me.
God bless you, Christine. Comments like this really make my day.
Dr Mildew says you are suffering from a very acute form of bloggitus which is luckily non infectious but is like unto drug addiction. This showed itself in your desperate attempt to get a fix on a wi Fi link at Ampleforth and using every second on a limited time scale to produce yet more blogs. Cure. 3 weeks at Pluscarden where I think you can come to no harm with blogs.
Thank you, Christine, that is exactly how I feel. Motherhood certainly tests patience and stamina, and it has involved making more sacrifices than I ever imagined it would, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Children demand so much, but they give so much more than they ever realise.
Ooh, so it wasn't any old mother, but a published one, huh? Well Amen to all those comments! I give a different answer to the question, 'however do you manage?' as many times as I'm asked it (v. frequently - we have a 5-year old, a 3-year old and baby twins). Sometimes it's something akin to, 'I get up very early and work very hard' but truly, it's 'with not just one hand in the Lord's, but two'.
...Also, Fiorella, it's true what they say - the leap from one to two is the worst. Now come on, girl, let's catch up with mrs jackie parkes mj!
You are right La mamma 2 is the hardest..much easier after that..when I try & convince the 2 child couple I can see their eyes glazing over as if to say 'you gotta be joking!'. I must say here that I was once a careerist with 2 children & contracepting..until I read Victoria gillick's A Mother's Tale & decided I wanted 10 of my own..
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