The Big 3-9

Kathy and I celebrated the big 3-9 on Saturday by going out to a little French restaurant here called Le Bistro du Beaujolais. You can find the menu here: http://www.lebistrodubeaujolais.com/home. We both opened up with the Mini Vol au Vent d’Escargots. I had called ahead to make sure they didn’t mince the little guys like some places do. (They didn’t.) Kathy had the Pavé de Romsteak Sauce au Bleu , I ordered the Truite farcie au Crabe. We are pretty sure there was heroin in the mashed potatoes. She let me have a taste and I was so infatuated with both her steak and the potatoes that she ordered a whole dinner to go so I could have it for Sunday.

It was a small place in an old house, but it held a lot of people. When we arrived, the tiny parking lot was full, so we made our own space. Once inside, there were rooms of empty tables, so we couldn’t figure out where everyone was. We must have arrived early by their standards, since the tables filled up later. There was an honest to goodness French family sitting next to us (what’s that they say about Chinese restaurants? If real Chinese people eat there, it must be good?) I gave Kathy an anniversary card that she found amusing, such that the woman at the other table looked over and wondered what was so funny. We passed the card around their table, too.

We both had dessert—Remy Martin for Kathy and chocolate mousse for me, though the red wine pears were sounding pretty good. When we go back, I’ll get the steak and Kathy wants to try the
Boeuf Bourguignon. Remembering mom’s big vat on the stove with a quarter inch layer of congealed fat on top kind of put me off beef burgundy, though.

Appropriately, we had started the evening out by going to 4:30 Mass in the same church in which we had been married, so that was kind of nice. There was one photo of us sitting in the sanctuary on that day, that I remembered, so I sort of superimposed that over the scene at Mass while we sat in our pew.

Happy Resurrection Day

We’re just home from a wonderful Easter vigil Mass. It was even more special than usual because Kathy was a reader, taking a part of the Exodus reading. A woman who had read at the vigil for many years (Maureen) passed away a few weeks ago, and two readers decided to leave, so I was really stuck. Kathy volunteered to read—only the second time she has ever been up there—and she did a great job. Holy Saturday is always the day when I think about how my life, how my family, how the whole world would be different if Jesus had not existed, if He had not come, taught, died and rose. Would all our cities resemble Pottersville, from "It's a Wonderful Life", where the 'working poor' are crushed by avaricious landlords like Mr. Potter? Or would they descend into the hedonistic vision of "Back to the Future", where Biff uses the sports almanac to build a gambling empire? If we couldn't be 'good Christians', what would we be? How would we treat each other without Christ's example to emulate?

Take a look around at your world and imagine all the church spires gone, no minister to turn to in times of despair, no one to share your faith with, because you wouldn't have any to share. This is the one day when we can say "What if", and maybe come to a better appreciation of tomorrow's gift. Perhaps Easter is a better time than New Year's Eve to resolve to do better in the coming year, since it marks the beginning of our real New Year, our acceptance of salvation.How would your life be different without Easter?