Yesterday it rained; of course, it rained. Yesterday was the weekend, and it always rains on the weekends. This morning was sunny when I woke up. That didn’t last long. The clouds are back.

This car is smaller than my last car, the difference in size between a Corolla and a Camry. I’m not used to it yet. Yesterday I opened the back door to unload laundry and whacked myself hard in the face with the door. A bump between my eyebrows appeared almost immediately, and above my left eyebrow swelled. Luckily it hasn’t black and blued as I’d need a cover story to explain the injury rather than the real story, the door story. I think I need a keeper.

When I was a kid, going to mass on Sunday was more of an inconvenience than an act of faith. In the upstairs of my church, I’d try for the back pew. It was a corner pew for one person. It didn’t have a kneeler. It was the best pew for an early escape.

In the summer, the early masses were so full there was an overflow. People stood in the back by the doors and even outside. I remember sitting on the stairs with my back to the doors. I chatted a bit. It was more of a lark than a rite. Downstairs was much smaller than upstairs and filled fast mostly because there was no sermon. I loved standing in the back. There were books and pamphlets. I usually read a few.

In Ghana, my school always had a Sunday service. It was in the dining hall. The tables were moved, and the chairs were in rows. The sermon giver was from one of the churches in town. They alternated. I remember when my principal asked me to give the sermon. I wanted to say no but no one said no to her. I spent hours trying to figure out what to say. I ended up using Aesop fables. I had to use fables to which my students could find a connection, and, for a couple, I changed the animals to those found in Africa. The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and the Tortoise and the Hare were my choices. The wolf became a lion and the hare a bush rat.

My principal never asked me again. I think she was shocked.

This entry was posted on June 8, 2025 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.