After my big conversion at the age of 23, (see this semi-completed, half-started, entirely abandoned series), I spent six months in France trying to figure things out.
Hey, there are worse places to have an identity crisis!
I got a job teaching at a small Catholic school near Lyons. I taught Science, Geography, Singing, Sewing, Art and English.
(The French have a saying: If you give them the tip of your finger, they will take your entire arm.)
(My arm has since regenerated.)
The children at the school were sweet and entirely normal. “Mademoiselle,” they would come to complain on the playground, “Simon said a bad word!”
“It’s all the same to me,” I shrugged. “I don’t know the bad words in your language.”
One little girl fairly won my heart. Her name was Marie-Laure and she was as matter-of-fact as a six-year-old could be.
If something wasn’t fair, she’d protest: “C’est pas juste!” And when my face broke out from all the stress of teaching, she peered at me and remarked point-blank, “Mademoiselle, vous êtes pleine de buttons.”
Did you get that? She told me I was covered with zits.
I gave her a playful smile and said, “Those are just for you, Marie-Laure.” She frowned, not approving at all of my silly response to her serious reflection.
I couldn’t help it.
Anyway, I am thinking of Marie-Laure today—and writing about her, obviously—because there’s a similar stress in my life right now. It’s the stress of carting two boys back and forth to baseball while preparing a little girl for her First Holy Communion while homeschooling while writing two talks for the conference that takes place in three weeks.
Though I’m not exactly “pleine de buttons” right now……
I am feeling the whole of my arm quite getting taken.
Again.☺
How can you look the same now as you did at 23? No fair!! 🙂 You were beautiful then and now, and on the inside, too!
Hang in there!!!
You too, Sweetie!
(The Road Scholar, aka my dear friend Cathie, is giving three talks at this same conference.)
Bonne chance! (I hope I'm remembering my high school french correctly!)
Prayers for sanity! Besides, you KNOW that you could just get up and talk and the audience would be enthralled. As for the baseball, I think you're completely out of your mind … can't help you with that … except to pray for a quick end to the season, which would mean the end of summer, so I just can't!
Oh, I don't mind the baseball, Suzie. In fact, I really enjoy it. And I don't mind the first sacrament, or the homeschooling, and certainly not the conference talks!
It's just fun to complain good-naturedly. 🙂
It's just fun to complain good-naturedly. 🙂
Precisely. 😉
All of it is good … But sometimes all of it at the same time is a bit much. Praying that you get a break here-and-there … God bless you! And I loved the story =)
What a beautiful little girl! And how blessed you are to have been able to have had that experience.
Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
And please don't stress. I think you'll do great at the conference. I wish I could go just so I could hear you. 🙂
God bless!
…and I am so excited about those talks that you are preparing to give at the conference in three weeks. I do hope you don't stress too much, though. Anything you say in your talk will be wonderful and inspirational, just like you blog posts are for me everyday! – Hang in there! 🙂
I am in total agreement with Suzie about the talk. I am looking forward to the conference and your talk. Be real and all will be great!
Cheri
Rest assured we're praying for all your preparations in the next few weeks before the conference and look forward to seeing how God is going to use you there! If you have a moment or two, say a prayer for the other conference preparations as well. We're right at the absolute busiest part as we finalize all the registration details. Blessings and we're excited to see you all there!
Are you stressed? Honestly, I couldn't tell. You seem so goodnatured about everything that it all just blew past me…but I'll be saying a prayer for you regardless.