Friday Five: Special Moments

Sophia brought today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

This has me thinking of the special rites of passage in our lives which we participate for ourselves or in which we support and bless others: baptism, confirmation, marriage, ordination, graduation, funerals, etc. Such important days, so exciting and joyous, but also sometimes anxiety provoking or deeply painful....So, this week, please share five memories of such sacred moments with God and her holy people from your life and the lives of those you love.

1. The births of my four children:

July 1990

2. The death of my father in 2002, which combines with the last time I saw him a week before he died. He had had a stroke, and I waited until he was in a nursing home in Bellingham, WA before returning to TX. The last time I saw him alive was when I said good-by to him; I was overwhelmed with the experience of knowing how much he loved me and that he knew how much I loved him. We had had a strained history, and so this was a blessing I still recall. My dad did not want a funeral, but we had a memorial service (for me) at the Methodist Church in Bellingham, where they were very hospitable. When my oldest son and husband spoke of my father, I experienced a great deal of love, as well as all my children being with me.

3. A sacred and mystical experience was given me on Easter 1999, when I was "magically" given an assurance of life after years of clinical depression. I wrote about this here.

4. Our eldest son DC's wedding to AA in Austin, TX on September 2, 2006:
Although it was extremely hot, it was joyous and happy!

See how happy I was, especially dancing with my son?
(and there's my tendency to shut my eyes in pictures. . . .)

5. My 50th birthday surprise!
When I was taking two or three classes at Oblate School of Theology each week, I would often spend one night a week in San Antonio. Usually on those nights I would meet AE, who was going to Trinity University, where her youngest sister MJ goes now. She brought me to La Madeleine restaurant on Broadway for dinner and suddenly there were all my children with their dad! CB had gotten BJ and MJ out of school early in Corpus Christi and driven to San Antonio in time for dinner, and DC had driven from Texas A&M University in College Station. That was one of the biggest surprises in my life and was so wonderful.

That reminds me of another surprise visit--when AE walked in the door around Christmas 2005. She was in her third year of working in South Korea for the Fulbright Program and had told us she was spending Christmas in Japan. Instead, she came home and overwhelmed CB and me with shock and joy. The other kids knew she was coming, but never told us.