Love Forever

 When Marie-Claude was three years old, we lived in the rectory of the church in Papineauville Québec, a sleepy little village about an hour from Ottawa. It was a huge house that had once lodged several priests and servants. The priests no longer lived there and the parish office was in a small section of the building. We rented the remainder of the house.

There was a door that connected the parish office to our living quarters. This door was never locked, and Marie-Claude would often go visit Sister Lise who was the administrator of the Parish and have a chat with her.

Early one morning, Sister Lise came to us and said,  

“Do you know what Marie-Claude just said to me? She told me that God loves us forever.”

Sister then asked MC how she knew that, and she answered:  

‘Mom and dad love each other, and that’s forever.”

I wasn’t there to witness this conversation, but I have always pictured my daughter saying that with great conviction. She started having strong convictions at a very young age!

We were at the dinner table at MC ‘s house a few weeks ago and, as usual, chatting about various things after supper. I don’t know how the conversation turned to marriage, but as it did, Marie-Claude turned to her daughter Katherine and said, with the same conviction she had said it when she was a toddler, “When I married your dad, it was forever. Marriage is forever.”

It is good to know that not only diseases are transmissable. Love is passed on to the next generation as well.

Considerate People !

Such considerate people! I’m talking about the kind people who send you messages letting you know that your Netflix account (which you do not have) will be closed within 24 hours unless you click on a link they provide and enter your credit card information to prevent this unspeakable tragedy from occurring.

I am so impressed with these good Samaritans who are always on the lookout for your interest and giving their precious time to warn you of similar impending disasters. My admiration for them has reached a point that I even dream of them!

Last night, I dreamed that I received a message on my iPhone letting me know that someone had attempted to hack my bank account. But not to worry, my account was quickly frozen to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, the message went on, and I would not have access to my money for a week. I obviously panicked for a few seconds. Where would I find the money to buy that five-dollar head of lettuce I needed? But my worries were unfounded. These generous souls offered me a 100$ interest-free loan to help me out. All I needed to do was click on the Web link they provided.

And then I woke up… That is too bad. I would have liked the dream to go on long enough for me to thank these wonderful human beings.

New Memory Bank Needed

My memory has failed me before, many times. I must write all of my appointments down in my agenda and make a to-do
list or else I will easily forget things. I have grown used to the unreliability of my memory. This week, however, something entirely new occurred that has eroded even more my confidence in being able to remember important things.

I had promised to drop off documents at one of the local parishes. One of my friends needed them to make an announcement after the Sunday masses. At the beginning of the week, I went over what I needed to do during the week. I knew I had to deliver those documents. I did remember the task to be done, but as I went digging into the storage system that my brain uses to recall things, my memory brought up an image of my delivering papers to the very church where the delivery was expected. Satisfied I had accomplished my duties, I checked that task off my to-do list.

On the day the documents were needed, my friend called me in a panic and asked me if I had delivered them. She could not find them. I then realized that my memory had pulled a fast one on me: instead of providing me with accurate information on what I had done recently, it pulled up a year-old memory of my delivering pamphlets at the very same church. My memory has betrayed me in a brand-new treasonous way! Does anybody know where I can buy a slightly used but more reliable memory bank?