Commencement

Dear Caroline,

One of my only regrets in my life is missing my college graduation. It was not a perfect set of circumstances that led up to missing the ceremony.

To be married in the Catholic Church, you must take a weekend long seminar to prepare you for marriage. Originally we had signed up to take the class in February when life happened. It was in our plan (and not God’s) to move to Warner Robins after marriage. In preparation for the move, I attended a job fair to begin interviewing for possible job opportunities. It was the same weekend as our seminar. No worries, we would have another chance later on and signed up for the next available weekend one month before we were to be married. That weekend was the same weekend as graduation. Honestly, I didn’t think that it mattered and we continued to move forward. 

As we sat in our marriage preparation weekend, the only thing I could think of was missing the second biggest ceremony of my life. Several of my friends walked. Turns out it mattered and it mattered a lot. To be fair, we never asked for an exception and I am positive we would have gotten it. It never occurred to me to ask for it as I thought it was unimportant.

Imagine my surprise when I found the video of my graduation online. I didn’t even know that my university archived past commencements. I was even recognized for my academic achievements! All in all, I wish I had attended but at the very least I have the experience of it online.

Wish #47: I wish for to be proud of all of your accomplishments. We will always be your biggest cheerleaders.

Love always 

Ideas-Part One

Dear Caroline,

I am not a very political person. I definitely have opinions, but ultimately I believe that God is in control of every situation. I vote and everything, but I am not a pushy voter. Rarely do I get behind a person running for office.

What I do seem to get behind is ideas. While people running for office tend to be greatly interested in their own self-interest, ideas tend to come from the people! Two ideas I’ve been concerned with lately are birth control coverage and invisible children.

There is a bill in congress that expounds on the health care system’s makeover from two years ago. It requires that health insurance plans that employer’s pay into must cover artificial birth control at no cost to the individual. My largest area of concern is exceptions for faith-based organizations that provide health care. As a Catholic, it offends me that our first amendment rights are being infringed upon.

I consider our first amendment rights a two way street. Religion cannot govern laws and laws cannot govern religion. Everyone tends to forget that second part. I support many issues outside of the church even if it sometimes conflicts with my faith with the understanding that the separation of church and state is in the best interest of everyone.

Now it seems that everyone else has forgotten the second part. If the government wants the Church to stay out of its affairs, stay out of the Church’s affairs. This isn’t about women’s access to birth control. I had several friends in college who had cheap birth control without insurance. After doing a little research on my own, birth control is available for $9 a month at Wal-Mart without insurance. This is about REQUIRING a faith to go against its teachings.

Unlike today’s politicians and even other denominations, the positions of the Church have never waivered, never changed, never compromised. There are things in the world that are right and things that are wrong. And it is wrong to force something so intrinsically anti-Catholic on the Catholic Church.

Last Sunday, we had a fabulous homily from Father Christian. He is a decidedly young and fresh priest who always seems very passionate about our Faith. I left Mass in tears partly of pride and partly in sadness. I am very proud of my Faith and I try to live it everyday knowing that it will not be popular and that I will be the one on the defensive. But that is okay and I know that the Lord is with me in those moments. What I walked away with was Fr. Christian’s promise that when, and not if, persecution comes Christ is there. And make no mistake, this is persecution. 

(As this is a two-parter, no wish for tonight)

Love always 

Graduate School :/

Dear Caroline,

Caroline, you have one (book-smart) mama! I am extremely proud of my college degree. Not in a bragging way but in a general, I am so proud of my degree way. I was the first person in my family to go to college and graduate (on time and with honors I might add!) from college.

Today, after much discussion and prayer, I decided to apply for graduate school at my alma mater. Ultimately I will be pursuing a degree in Excellence in Teaching. It is a new degree program and I am kind of excited about it. In all honesty, I don’t have a lot of motivation to go back to school. I understand that it will benefit us in the long run and I am willing to go back to school. We discussed it and prayed about it to the point of ad nauseam. Finally, I just decided that it was time. I start on May 14^th! Hopefully, we’re making the right decision.

Wish #46: I wish for you to prayerfully consider each decision.

Love always