ASCENSION

She sat there at Mass - that Sunday.

They were celebrating both Mother’s Day and Ascension Thursday that Sunday.

She thought to herself,  “Interesting….  Tricky….  A juggling act….”

She remembered a comment she heard a priest say in a sermon many years ago on Mother’s Day.  “No matter what the gospel is, no matter what the readings are, no matter what the feast is, if you don’t make your sermon about Mothers, you’re toast.”

“Hey,” he added. “It’s women. It’s mothers - who fill the benches - but not all the time. It depends on the parish. It depends on the culture.”

She did the opposite. She often did - as she sat there listening to the priest babble on about mothers - including his own mother.

She sat there thinking about her life as an Ascension.

A climb - a sets of stairs - one after the other - some landings - reaching for the skies - heading for the stars.

Ascension….

She was the first in her family to go to college.

She was the first in her family to get married and have a baby - twins in fact.

She was the first - as a result - to make her parents - grandparents - and she didn’t realize how powerful a moment that was - till she began listening to her parents - a moment even more powerful than she having her first baby - she herself - along with her husband.

She wondered, “Is there an official Grandparents Day? I’m sure Hallmark and florists and restaurants would be pushing for that.”

Then she thought, “Oh, that’s what they were needling us about - on our wedding day - and every chance after that!”

“When are you going to have a baby?”

“We want to be grandparents.”

Her mom wanted to show pictures of her granddaughters - the twins were girls - to every friend she met in her book club and in the Giant parking lot and at the soup kitchen where she volunteered.

Ascension. Yes having a baby and having a grandkid - and having twins mind you - these were ascension moments.

Rising.

Higher and higher.

Upward and outward mobility.

Family - the family tree expanding - branching out - reaching up for the skies.

Ascension.

Her mom - she heard this from her dad - behind her mom’s back - no longer bragged about her daughter’s salary - 6 figures mind you - now that was as ascension - compared to their salaries - but now her mom was bragging about the twins.

And a chance to baby sit - and wheel those kids around the block - now that it stopped raining - now that Spring had finally sprung.

Ascension….

And as she sat there in that church that Ascension Feast as the priest continued to  babble on about mothers - she thought about her three brothers - and all their life struggles. One had gambling problems. One had a drinking problem. The other had women problems.

Being a mother - being a parent - can be tough. It never  stops.

Yet in time - all three boys - her brothers - recovered.

Now that was ascension.

Now that was resurrection.

Now that was Spring.

Now -  that got everyone in the family past many Bad Fridays - and Saturdays and the rest of the week as well.

And all three got back to church - much to their parent’s surprise.

That ended her mom’s constant prayer at church for her sons. That ended her mom’s constant comment to her friends about her kids dropping out of Church. “I don’t know what we did wrong.  We took them to church. We made sure they got good religious education. They didn’t have a Catholic school in our area - but our parish had a good Religious Education system.”

She never did mention her daughter - who went to church - in all this.

“Aaah,” her daughter thought - sitting there in church -  “Optimist - Pessimist - Positive - Negative - Glass half-full, glass half-empty - her mom.”

“Ah, let mom have them to brag about for a while….”

Ascension.

And as she sat there in church that Mother’s Day - that Ascension Thursday on a Sunday - she pinched herself. Her twins were long gone. They were the only kids they had - but they had tried for more.  She looked at her marriage - wonderful - oh it had its ups and downs - ins and outs - but it was  a great marriage - even though her husband died in the First Gulf War - because of an I.E.D - messy, messy, messy, difficult, difficult, difficult. Lots of tears and lots of tissues.

No ascension there - but in time yes - because he was a great guy - a Lutheran from Minnesota - with a Norwegian background - and went to church with her and the twins all through their growing up - in army bases and when he was not away on duty.

In fact, she was saying slowly but clearly - to herself -  a year or two after his funeral, how lucky they were to have the gift of faith. Thank you Jesus. Faith certainly is a light in the darkness - sunshine in winter - Easter Sunday after a tough Good Friday.

Ascension Thursday weeks and days after Easter …. Hey life happens in degrees.

She loved her post-mom  job: a radio announcer of country western music. Her degrees - both bachelor’s and Master’s  in Communications from Northwestern,  certainly helped in her early years and now that their twin girls were married - and she had gone back to work. They were having kids on their own. They had made her a grandmother - and folks only heard her voice on the radio. It was still a young voice and she knew and loved her music.

All these moments she realized were ascension moments as well.

Yes, life is taking those steps - putting one foot in front of the other - better climbing those stairs - one step at a time - one landing at a time.

Ascension.

Ooops the priest just finished his sermon.

What was he talking about anyway?

She smiled because on that Mother’s Day, she knew what she was talking about to herself  - and it made sense - good sense - great sense to her - even though she wasn’t preaching to herself about Mother’s Day - but Ascension Days.