I’m going to connect Jay Leno and “The Sound of Music.” I’m not sure how many moves it will take…but I’ll do it!
Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda. It’s one of the bits on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and to tell you the truth, it’s my least favorite. But pushing that aside, I can relate to the words. Who can’t? I seem to reflect on the shouldas, couldas and wouldas of my life as a mother now more than I ever have. Perhaps it’s because our children, now 18, 19 and 21, are making their way into adulthood. My prayer, each and every day, is that God will make our children holy…that He will increase their desire for holiness.
As Catholic parents, Jim and I took our children to Mass each week. We did our best to instill in them the desire to serve others and to love God and their neighbor. They’ve got that part down. Each serves in his or her own way. Our oldest, Christopher, recently enlisted in the United States Army. His goal is to be a combat paramedic and one day perhaps a flight paramedic. Service…check. Holiness…still a work in progress. It is, or should be, a work in progress for each of us, even if we’re 48 or 84.
Right or wrong, when our children turned 18, we allowed them to choose whether or not they attended weekly Mass. Christopher went on Christmas and Easter only for three years. That didn’t bother me too much, because I have confidence that in His time, God will increase our son’s desire for Him.
Maybe we shoulda not given him the choice. Maybe I coulda done more to encourage Christopher to attend Mass. If I had known the U.S. Army would be his path, I sure woulda let him fail more as a teenager. As moms, we’re too ready to swoop in and rescue, picking up the pieces and not letting our children suffer the consequences of a poor decision.
On Tuesday, Jan. 21, I received a letter from our young man. The first week of Basic Combat Training must have been rough. Near the end of the letter, Christopher asked two favors. The first was to have the bank give him the ability to transfer money from his savings to his checking account (I’m the only one who had that privilege since their accounts were all under ours). The second? Read on.
“Second, if you could send me a pocket Bible, I could really use it.”
And here is where “The Sound of Music” comes in. I’m changing a word or two, but you get the idea.
“Nothing comes from nothing. Nothing ever could. So somewhere in our Catholic parenting, we must have done something good.”