Another Grandparents Day

Today Grandpère and I were up early to make our way to New Orleans to pick up our grandson to go to Grandparents Day at Jesuit High School. For once we arrived in plenty of time. We parked with no difficulty in the very small parking lot and went in to attend our second Roman Catholic mass in three days.

Grandpère, who is a twice a year man for church attendance - Christmas and Easter - had enough church to last him a while. I wonder if he will skip Christmas this year.

The opening hymn was, "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus", one of my favorites, but we sang only two verses. I love to belt out all the verses. I didn't even belt out the two, because I would have stood out, since the rest of the congregation's singing was pallid, indeed.

Once again this apostate-heretic strode up to partake of the body and blood of Our Lord - against the rules of the hosts - for the sake of my grandson and because I wanted to.

Visiting the school brought back a host of memories, because, although I attended an all-girls high school, the church parish in which my school was located was run by the Jesuits. My friends and I went to the Jesuit High School football games and cheered for them. The words of their fight song came back to me, and I sang it softly to my GS as we waited for mass to begin, which I think embarrassed him a little. He doesn't not even know the song himself, because this is first year there.

Jesuit High, our Alma Mater dear,
Thy sons proclaim thy name to every ear....

I'll spare you the whole thing.

I remembered a cheerleader for Jesuit whom I had a crush on. Almost every girl I knew had a crush on him, even those of us who didn't know him personally. Had I gone out with him during my high school years, my reputation as a popular girl would have been made, but, alas, I never even met him. Later, when we both attended Loyola University, we did go out a few times, but there was no magic. The timing was off.

After the mass and reception, we went to brunch at Ralph's on the Park, across the street from City Park. The restaurant is owned by a member of the Brennan family of Brennan's and Commander's Palace fame. GrandPère wanted to go elsewhere, but GS and I outvoted him. We had an excellent brunch.

While waiting for our order, I saw a man who looked like Bishop Charles Jenkins, the Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana, waiting at the door. I was not sure it was he, until he turned in my direction, and I saw the purple shirt. I went over to him to say "Hi". We exchanged greetings, and I asked about his house in Slidell, La., which was flooded after Katrina, and he said it was now livable, but not yet completed. I wished them well and told them that I planned to be at the ecumenical service at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will be the principal speaker. Louise Jenkins is a warm, lovely woman.

Tomorrow will be a stay-at-home day for me.