Anchors

The Friday before Hunter’s surgery, we were invited to attend a mass at St. Edward’s School in New Iberia, the same place I went to elementary school. If you recall from my post Keeping the Faith, the principal Mrs. Karen, and the entire St. Edward’s family have been praying for Hunter very much! Mrs. Cindy, who was my kindergarten teacher when I went to St. Edwards, is the one who told Mrs. Karen about Hunter, so she walked up for Hunter’s blessing at the mass as well. On a side note, when I told my friend Brandi that the kids at St. Edward’s prayed for Hunter every day she was amazed. She immediately picked up the phone and called her God child who is a student there to ask if she knew who Hunter was. She said “Yes, we pray so that he can hear”. I developed a huge knot in my throat when she told me that…. How amazing that all of these kids knew who Hunter was. When they invited us to attend one of their Friday morning masses, I knew it would be hard to do before his surgery with tax season and all, but it worked out that I was taking off for a wedding that I was in for my friend Kathryn on March 23^rd, so we were able to make it work so that we could attend the mass just 4 days before his surgery. Blair had a CPE class all day and needs LOTS of hours before the end of the year, so we knew he wouldn’t be able to make the mass. My mom was the only person I knew that was coming with me, and then I found out my dad would be there. So I also told Blair’s mom in case she wanted to join us, even though I wasn’t making it a big thing. I didn’t tell anyone else in the family because everyone else I thought would have been working…..

Well, we got there a little early, and after telling Mrs. Karen that it would only be a few of us she had blocked off two rows of pews. I had no idea why, but I just sat where I was told, with my mind kept on occupying Hunter and keeping him content (food.in.mouth) basically the entire time. Well after we took a seat, my cousins Mallory, Marianna and Lindsay walk in… oh man. I have no idea why but I just LOST it. I remember busting out in tears with my mom (well she had been in tears all morning just thinking about the mass) and I remember saying, “Ya’ll can’t do this to me!” Thinking ya’ll can’t surprise me like this… and why aren’t you all working?” Then walks in Blair’s mom, my mom’s parents, and my Aunt Nanette. All I could think was how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life. Well the mass started, and as I look to my left, Blair’s Aunt Monique is there, and my Uncle Jose also came for the mass. For those of you who know me, I am quite an emotional person. All my life my cousins have been like sisters to me. And as we have gotten older we have only gotten closer. In high school we fought like sisters, and as we grew older, we served in each other’s weddings, like sisters. Marianna, my younger cousin, lives about 4 minutes from my house. She’s my “hey can I borrow a dress” or “Hunter and I need to pass the time can we come play?” cousin. We also email during the day because we both sit at computers all day. Basically some days she knows my every move! Mallory is a year older than me. We became very close in college, and I was the maid of honor in her wedding. She’s my go to side kick, always willing to join me for just about anything! In college, she even got my dramatic break-up phone calls. Those were the days. And Lindsay, well she’s a mom of 4 under 5 years old. That pretty much says it all! I call her for anything baby related. “Hunter just projectile vomited on me, what do I do now?” or my Sunday morning 7am phone call to come over and visit because there’s ALWAYS entertainment at her house. And Melissa, she’s my cousin who lives in Colorado. Number 2 of the 4 sisters. I think she thinks sometimes I try and take her place, but she is definitely irreplaceable. Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of your clan, but you don’t come to visit nearly enough! I recently read a quote on a friend’s blog that said “Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends”. I love it!

These are just a handful of the people in my life that I like to call my anchors. They are my constant support, and they choose to be day in and day out. When they walked in the church that Friday morning, I knew they had chosen to be there for me. To take off of work and to be there for my family. In a rehearsal dinner speech I recently gave, I pointed out the fact that we tend to gravitate towards people who are much like we are in our values and goals. And I couldn’t surround myself with better people than the members of both of our families. I like to look at the things in my life that keep me grounded/sane as anchors in my life. I have a family that lonely people dream of. From the 30 first cousins on both sides of my family, to my husband’s amazingly supportive family, I think it’s safe to say, we have it all. My parents and family members, Blair’s entire family, and those who wanted to be there that Friday morning but logistically could not make it… they are all the anchors in our lives. And then there’s our faith, which is growing day by day. Some days the only thing I turn to for strength. My faith is also an anchor. Because the people in my life can promise me everything will be okay, but my faith will lead me on the road to everything being okay.

About the following video (excuse Lindsay’s hands that were shaking while taking the video).

The priest asked me if it would be okay to call us up towards the end of mass to give Hunter a special blessing in front of all the children. I was excited about the idea because the children were praying for Hunter every day in class, and I wanted them to know and see who they were praying for. When the priest told the kids to extend their hands in the air to give Hunter a blessing, you can’t tell but I lost it again. I had to keep my eyes shut very tightly to prevent my ‘ugly cry’ from surfacing.  After the blessing we went back to our seats, and as the kids proceeded out they kept pointing and saying “look, there’s Hunter!” … “I see Hunter!” I am so glad we were able to go, and we will be back to visit them soon!