surprise!
My dad has never been easy to buy for: new clothes sit in the closet and watch as the old stand byes rank selection time and again over their new tags; you can only have so many fishing poles and related gear; gift certificates reach antiquity long before they see the light of day and sending him on a trip somewhere just isn't up his creek. Last year I was paying attention and the Fey's and us took him to see a Grotto in Iowa that he had told me about...that was a nice gift and one we all will long remember. This year we had father's day and his birthday again and I just couldn't come up with much to get him that didn't categorize itself into "gifts for the sake of gifts". Until...I spotted that his birthday was on a Saturday [yesterday] and he always goes to the Saturday 5:15 mass...I also noticed that Shawna and I were doing a wedding there in the afternoon and we'd already have our stuff set up....so, I called the music director and asked if we might be able to do the music for the mass as a surprise for his birthday. I was pleased and a bit surprised to find out how receptive he was to having us come. Turns out we could pick anything we wanted to sing and he'd love to have us relieve him of finding someone else for the schedule.
It ended up dad had tickets to a concert for last night and I had to call and juggle for the 8:00 mass this morning. {perfect being the early risers we are...} I told dad we were coming to mass with him as a birthday present just to be sure he was at that same mass and then we arrived before him, got set up and walked to his favorite pew in the last row of the church {more leg room for his long frame} to explain we wouldn't exactly be sitting with him. The look on his face: priceless. The reason for the look? He asks me if I know what I'm doing :) I think he was nervous I was going to screw something up. {It's always possible...but leading the music for mass at all the catholic grade schools for 20 years in addition to all the weddings...well, I wasn't as worried about that as he seemed to be. He did manage to make me a bit more "aware" of the pressure to do it well. This was his turf, his people, his community of faith.}
Veronica, Shawna and I took our places and the place filled with mostly older folks with a few younger ones mixed in. Fr. Curt, who had celebrated the mass for the wedding the day before, is always gracious and encouraging and made us feel quite welcome, which I might add is not always the case from parish to parish...especially since we aren't Catholic. Anyhoo, he had suggested I choose more traditional songs for the older ears {some things are the same no matter where you go...} and I think we found a nice mix of songs that we knew and were familiar ones to the congregation. It was fun rehearsing the night before for this...kept thinking how much mom would have enjoyed it, and it was a blast surprising dad.
Kevin sat with him in the back and told me afterwards he himself puddled up every time we sang. I attribute this to the heavenly acoustics, as well as the sentimental aspects involved. It was kind of cool to hear Shawna singing "How Beautiful" in her angelic sweetness and watching dad receive communion in the center aisle and realizing the significance of what we were all experiencing. I know to Shawna, the whole liturgical style is still foreign to her, as it was for me once upon a time. But once I got past the feeling of betraying my belief system, I was able to pour myself into leading this time of worship just like I did in my own congregation. There is a certain beauty in the liturgy and I have always found it to be a meaningful expression of worship...complete with a real sense of His presence when my mind and heart allow it to be.
Fr. Curt announced dad's birthday at the end, and impressively remembered all our names. Dad looked as pleased as he can look and I honestly think we couldn't have given him more than we did today. I told him, if he knew what I charge these days, it was a heck of a present!
We stood outside and watched as he pointed out all the incredibly difficult places on the various steeples he had worked over the years, all the metal work, gutters, etc. I'd hurl if I had to even think about suspending myself in places like that and I thought to myself: this man isn't afraid of anything. With him in my world, I'm not either really. He's a perfect picture of the arms of God protecting me and watching over me. And I thank Him for such a wonderful father.
I pray He grants him enough birthdays to be baptized; for a long, healthy life in the years to come and my peace of mind for the eternity to follow...
It ended up dad had tickets to a concert for last night and I had to call and juggle for the 8:00 mass this morning. {perfect being the early risers we are...} I told dad we were coming to mass with him as a birthday present just to be sure he was at that same mass and then we arrived before him, got set up and walked to his favorite pew in the last row of the church {more leg room for his long frame} to explain we wouldn't exactly be sitting with him. The look on his face: priceless. The reason for the look? He asks me if I know what I'm doing :) I think he was nervous I was going to screw something up. {It's always possible...but leading the music for mass at all the catholic grade schools for 20 years in addition to all the weddings...well, I wasn't as worried about that as he seemed to be. He did manage to make me a bit more "aware" of the pressure to do it well. This was his turf, his people, his community of faith.}
Veronica, Shawna and I took our places and the place filled with mostly older folks with a few younger ones mixed in. Fr. Curt, who had celebrated the mass for the wedding the day before, is always gracious and encouraging and made us feel quite welcome, which I might add is not always the case from parish to parish...especially since we aren't Catholic. Anyhoo, he had suggested I choose more traditional songs for the older ears {some things are the same no matter where you go...} and I think we found a nice mix of songs that we knew and were familiar ones to the congregation. It was fun rehearsing the night before for this...kept thinking how much mom would have enjoyed it, and it was a blast surprising dad.
Kevin sat with him in the back and told me afterwards he himself puddled up every time we sang. I attribute this to the heavenly acoustics, as well as the sentimental aspects involved. It was kind of cool to hear Shawna singing "How Beautiful" in her angelic sweetness and watching dad receive communion in the center aisle and realizing the significance of what we were all experiencing. I know to Shawna, the whole liturgical style is still foreign to her, as it was for me once upon a time. But once I got past the feeling of betraying my belief system, I was able to pour myself into leading this time of worship just like I did in my own congregation. There is a certain beauty in the liturgy and I have always found it to be a meaningful expression of worship...complete with a real sense of His presence when my mind and heart allow it to be.
Fr. Curt announced dad's birthday at the end, and impressively remembered all our names. Dad looked as pleased as he can look and I honestly think we couldn't have given him more than we did today. I told him, if he knew what I charge these days, it was a heck of a present!
We stood outside and watched as he pointed out all the incredibly difficult places on the various steeples he had worked over the years, all the metal work, gutters, etc. I'd hurl if I had to even think about suspending myself in places like that and I thought to myself: this man isn't afraid of anything. With him in my world, I'm not either really. He's a perfect picture of the arms of God protecting me and watching over me. And I thank Him for such a wonderful father.
I pray He grants him enough birthdays to be baptized; for a long, healthy life in the years to come and my peace of mind for the eternity to follow...
posted by ret at 12:02 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. He never sings to me :)
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