Circle of Life

Bonnie was christened this morning.  I didn't want to do it for reasons ranging from my philosophical differences with the church to my distaste for public displays of, well, me.  The thought of standing up in front of the entire congregation was much worse than the threat of Bonnie going to limbo *eye roll* but I did it anyway.  Why?  Not because I cared about Queen B being a Catholic -- the whole pageantry and mysticism of it all feels like voodoo to me.  No, it was not for me or even for her but for my Gram.  I may feel that organized religion won't have a positive impact on my kids as it didn't for me in the long run but Gram is devout.  It meant something to her to see her youngest great-grandchild brought into her faith so I did it for her, simple as that.

We had Bon baptized at our family friend's church down in Newark.  Father Richard celebrated our wedding mass so it was fitting that he officiated our last child's baptism.  I love that kind of symmetry.  Bonnie was very good throughout the mass, as were Jack and Natalie.  Mass ran more than 90 minutes so I was pretty shocked and impressed with how quiet and well-behaved they were.  Bon didn't cry at all when Richard poured the water on her head.  She loves getting a bath so perhaps she thought it was tub time, lol.  Afterwards, we explored the outside of their new church and found the brick we had added to their memorial walk.  It was nice to finally see it.

All in all, it turned out to be much nicer than I expected.  I was moved to tears when that building full of strangers prayed for my baby by name.  Do I think it will work?  No, not really, I've seen that prayer is like playing the lottery but they believe in it and I appreciate that they made the effort for my child.

After the luncheon we held at our house, Mom, Gram, Aunt Joan, Lauren and I had to head out to go to a viewing for Mrs. Vadino, the owner of the hotel where I worked in high school and college.  After a long, hard-fought battle against cancer, Mrs. Vadino died last week.  Although I rarely see her since her family sold the motel, it still shocked and saddened me to hear that she is gone.  This woman was a true lady.  She had kindness, grace and poise about her in a way that can't be faked; it was innate to her personality.  She and her husband were truly devoted to each other in a way you don't seen all that often and her sons were her world.  Seeing them tonight, my heart broke knowing how hard it will be for them to go on without her.

Very strange to start the day with a baptism and end it with a wake.  I can only hope that my beautiful Bonnie will be as generous, intelligent and loving as Mrs. Vadino always was.