Monday, September 07, 2009

Old Labor day blues and Everybody knows

When I was a girl I always hated Labor Day because it meant I'd have to go back to school the next day. And one of the most hated parts of going to school was the annual "How I spent my vacation" essay. I, and all the working class kids at school loathed that. Our parents didn't spend weeks at the beach and there was no cabin at the lake. One or two of us had a relative who Summered but they were like my great aunt, Betsy, who was a nanny and spent her Summer at Hyannis taking care of someone else's kids. We were lucky--- very lucky if we got to go to an amusement park or a day trip to the beach at any time in the whole three months off. When I was very young my mother and I packed up and took the train to granny's house in South Carolina but that stopped once Mama went back to work when I was seven. My father, let me hasten to say, was a champion at taking me places on the weekend but as much as I enjoyed that it seemed so dull compared to the stuff the "rich" kids were writing about.

One of the attorneys at work was complaining that "in this economy" (I'm sick of that phrase) she and her husband will be doing a "staycation" and only will only spend a week at Martha's Vineyard this year. I looked at her and thought, "You make 170k and you want me at 42k to make sympathetic noises at you? You silly cow. "

I'm a bit sorry for that reaction but it's nothing compared to my father-in-law, Big Daddy, who spent his Summers working in the fields from sunup to sundown. If I were foolish enough to mention any vacation that Rocky and I have gone on he woud have (and has in the past) say or do something spectacularly offensive to force a change of subject matter.
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Some people are still scandalized/saddened that Cardinal O'Malley was at Teddy Kennedy's funeral. Oh quit crying and get real folks. Is the sky rose colored in your world? Everybody knows what the dealio is in Boston. When has any high ranking clergyman ever said no to the Kennedy's? Of course O'Malley was there. At some point in your life a bishop will let you down, or even break your heart. But our faith is not tied to the failings or lack of spine of bishops. St. Athanatius and St. John Fisher are saints becuase they alone stood up when all their brothers decided to comprimise. Athanatius suffered a dry martydom of banishment and constant attack. St. John Fisher was beheaded and his body desecrated.
Take your precious gift of Faith and live for the Eucharist. Trust the Lord, trust Mary, trust Pope Benedict.
Be grateful that the Papal Nuncio was not there and be grateful that the Pope made no public condolence and that the Holy Father's letter to Senator Kennedy was no more than generic pleasantries. Be grateful that the Kennedy show is for all practical purposes, over. The only one of Joe and Rose Kennedy's children left, is Jean--- poor woman, it must be very sad to be the last sibling left--- and the Kennedy children are not impressive at all. The smartest ones seem to be Caroline and Jospeh and they are somewhat lacking once you get past the glamour.