Love Hurts

When you hear the word "love," what do you think? Do you imagine a romantic dinner with violin music and hearts and chocolates and roses and happykissyBLEHHH. Sorry, threw up a little there. Also, sorry to disappoint. If that's your only image of love...boy, are you in for a wake up call. 

Now, for those of you who are currently thinking "Oh great, another scorned lover being cynical and depressing"...again, sorry to disappoint. I'm neither scorned nor cynical. I'm also not badmouthing this "Hollywood" image of love just because I think it's too perfect to ever really work with real people. Quite, the opposite, actually. I'm saying that you should reject the "normal" idea of love, not because it is too great, but because it isn't great enough. 

While we're on the subject of scorned lovers, though, allow me to address the popular saying "Love hurts"

Good. It's supposed to. 

Gifted

This past Tuesday, my sister Ashley became an adult in the Church by receiving the sacrament of Confirmation! So, first of all, if you're reading this Ashley, congratulations! Also, if you're reading this...how? Pretty sure you have no idea how to access this.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to sponsor Ashley as she took this major step, and this allowed me to see the sacrament from a unique perspective. This wasn't the first time I've been to a Confirmation since my own (I sponsored my sister Mimi three years ago) but it was my first Confirmation since I've been at college.

Anybody who knew me in high school knows that I went through a bit of spiritual awakening right around the end of sophomore year (so, right around the time Mimi was getting confirmed). That transformation, though, was nothing compared to what I've experienced in the last eight or so months. Not to mention I understand the sacrament a lot more because of FireStarters (and, well, "Br. Dave's Awesome Powerpoint"). So, even though this wasn't my first time sponsoring a confirmandi, I saw the sacrament from a fresh point of view.

So I think for this post (and for those of you who kept checking even though I haven't been able to post recently, thank you) I'm going to "go deeper" with what exactly Confirmation is all about.

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of my lovely family with some clergy (or, as my mom would say, "the bishopness")