LA Story - Day Five

May 14, 2006
Mother's Day

Esteban was very involved with the Catholic Community on the USC campus and participated in the praise band with other amazingly talented musicians. The University parish had lost their beloved priest and mentor during the year (moved to another assignment) and a lot of people were not too fond of the replacement priest. So, most everyone had designated this particular Sunday to be "The Last Mass". Esteban and many others will be moving to different parishes in the area. It was also a homecoming event as several past members of the praise band were also on hand to celebrate. They celebrated with mimosa's in the foyer before the service started and sang songs they knew Father Lawrence didn't like.

So, most everyone who knows me, knows that I'm pretty liberal in my views of religions. One thing that really ticks me off is going to a Catholic Mass and being excluded from communion. Esteban & I have had several discussions on this issue and we both agree that communion should be open to all who believe and live a life of faith. So, when it came time for communion, I took my place in line and partook of the sacrament. Lightening didn't strike me down so God must have been OK with it. I was never NOT going to participate because communion is an important part of my faith and Esteban later said that he was really hoping I would do it. Gram did not participate in communion and we never talked about it aferwards. I wonder what she thought???

This Sunday also happened to be Mother's Day. Father Bill (the beloved ex-priest) prepared a wonderful Mother's Day lunch for everyone back at Esteban's house following "The Last Mass" and again, there were muchas margaritas. I think that these people will use ANY excuse to have a party! It was a melancholy day for me. I was glad to be in Los Angeles with Esteban, my Gram and my aunt but; I desperately missed my mom, husband and son on that day more than any other. I spent some time alone upstairs looking at photos, missing them and talking to them on the phone.

One of the funny things that I will remember about this trip is my aunt's crazy addiction to CNN. She would watch it constantly and swore that she couldn't sleep at night without having it on (all night). I gave her such a hard time about it. She got me back, though, because everytime she saw me in front of the TV, I was watching a baseball game. So, she started giving me grief about my baseball games. OK, point taken...but really, can you compare baseball to CNN??

We drove by the Coliseum on our first day in LA and I had a great photo...of my camera strap. UGH! So, we never got a chance for a make up drive-by photo and I had to settle for a postcard. This postcard shows the USC campus and downtown LA. My sense of direction was so completely messed up that I don't even know where Esteban's house is in relation to this shot. (Help me out bro!)