Picnic & Prayers

P had a birthday last week, and she had quite an interesting adventure request for her birthday…

We were planning on going to the local wildlife center until about a couple of days before when she changed her mind. She wanted to go to the Catholic cemetery.

“The cemetery, on your birthday?! Why??”
“To have a picnic, Mama, and pray for all the souls whose bodies are there!”
“Seems a bit morbid, but if that’s what you’d like to do…”

We tried suggesting other possible adventures to change her mind leading up to the day, but she stuck fast to the plan. We were to pick up a grilled cheese from one of her favorite restaurants, bake & bring her cake with us, and go to the cemetery to picnic and pray.

We have a fair amount of family buried in our Catholic cemetery from well over a hundred years ago so we visited their graves among many others. The two babies’ graves in our family plot made her really stop and think. She asked to go pray for them one last time before we left. Then we headed to @saintsandshamrocks to pick out some birthday gifts and blow out the candles with Mrs. Hope (the owner who Piper adores!).

It was an interesting way to celebrate a 5th birthday to say the least. Our girl is something else.

Eternal Father, I offer You the most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my own home, and within my family. Amen.