Saturday Night is Alright for (a Break in the) Fighting

Over the past few days I have been writing about the squabbles amongst traditionalists viz. the FSSP and the SSPX.

Tonight, I believe a break is in order.

Sometimes the good Lord sees fit to inject a little bit of levity into one’s life. Take my day, for instance. I woke up at 5:30 just as I knew I would. I had asked my guardian angel last night for just such a wake up call. Rolled out of bed and dropped to my knees to begin the day with the three Hail Mary’s and my morning prayers from the Missal. After a bit of puttering around, I headed to Mass. And then it was time to deal with the car…

You see, last night my wife had gone out with the kids to do some shopping. Yours truly decided to take a well-earned nap. Actually, I more or less fell asleep watching a tornado video on Youtube. They’re so fascinating. It turns out that during my slumber I missed about six calls from my wife who was trying to inform me that the car wouldn’t start and that they were stuck. On closer examination, had I taken the calls I would have been of no assistance as I did not have the car in my possession to pick them up. No matter. Her sister brought them home and an hour later, my mother-in-law and I headed out to look at the vehicle. It turns out that the car we drove in has some weird engine guard covering its battery so jumping my car was out of the question. I locked up the car and headed home by way of Adoration.

That brings us back to this morning after Mass. A good friend came to my rescue and drove me out to the disabled car. He tested the battery. It was dead. There was a battery store in the same plaza. We replaced the battery and all was right with my world.

With a working car, we decided to drive over to another friend’s house for dinner this evening. While there, he and I discussed the trad wars over a cocktail. We are of a like mind, as I suspect many of my fellow parishioners may be (whether they will say it or not). We thanked him for an excellent meal of grilled steaks and for the friendship and headed home.

Here’s where it gets good…

On the drive home, I remembered that I had a song stuck in my head. I learned long ago that the best way to get such songs unstuck is to simply let them out. That’s when I started singing the opening lines to the Steely Dan song Peg.

“I see your picture…”

And that’s when my two teenager children decided to show me that they are, in fact, my kids. My daughter chimed in.

“Your name in lights above it…”

Son was not far behind except he opted instead to “sing” the horn section. Admit it, you do the same thing.

If you do not know the song, take my word. It’s not half bad. Blues notes, a tight rhythm, Michael McDonald singing falsetto backing vocals.

And then there’s the infamous Jay Graydon guitar solo. My daughter nailed it a capella except that she sounded like a stray cat got its tail stuck in a blender. But I repeat myself. And we broke out into uproarious laughter.. My wife didn’t know what to make of the whole affair.

Tomorrow will bring more serious news topics. But for tonight, give thanks for the spontaneous moments of joy and laughter.

St. Rita, pray for us!