celebration

"If Sunday is disregarded or abolished, only workdays are left in the week. Man, who was created for joy, degenerates into a workhorse and a mindless consumer. We must learn on earth how to celebrate properly, or else we will not know what to do in heaven. Heaven is an endless Sunday." -Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, p 112.

Warning: This post might contain some of Mama philosophizing. Given that she does not have a degree in philosophy or anything related to that, it may or may not be theologically or philosophically correct. Or in logical order. Or PC. :) It's okay. You don't have to agree. Just think about it.  

But first, let's talk about the more concrete purpose of our trip to Nana's this weekend. Yesterday was Auntie Anna's birthday! She is no longer a teenager. We took a drive to meet up with her at Nana's house. Isaac started out the long weekend (I didn't work Friday) in a festive manner, keeping us entertained with his songs in the car.

Some highlights so far were: going to the beach. This is a picture of Isaac and I standing where "Jump off Joe" used to be when I was little. It has since caved in and washed away, really in a significant way.

 Isaac saw this rock from up above the beach and said, "It's a hippo in the water!"

 Then this is from last night, from Auntie Anna's birthday. We went to Sada's and got a whole boat of sushi!

 It didn't last.

 This morning (Sorry, I don't know why the pictures aren't in order. I am too lazy to reorder them.) we walked to Farmer's Market. We only had one stroller but we set London on Isaac's lap. He complained about it, but London must have been pretty comfy, because she started nodding off.

 And this is one picture from back at Peter's birthday. Did I already post this? I feel like I forgot to post about that. I always feel weird posting pictures of other people's kids. Except, of course, baby London, who is technically our goddaugher.

And here is another one of London and Isaac.

So now that we are all caught up on that front.... back to the philosophizing.

"If Sunday is disregarded or abolished, only workdays are left in the week."

I thought that whole quote was interesting. It tied together a lot of things I have been thinking about lately. Between remembering the 10th anniversary of Mother Teresa's death (aka Blessed Teresa of Calcutta), starting work, and reading "Of the water and the spirit" by Malidoma Patrice Some, there were a lot of things on my mind recently. But that whole quote at the beginning managed to tie all those thoughts together, explain and reconcile them, in a book relating to my own religious beliefs. Very self-affirming.

So the first sentence: It is important to have a day not devoted to working, but to celebrating. Not every once in a while, but every week. Time off is an important part of balance in life. Celebration is important to achieve balance and joy in our lives. Moral of the story: Don't take work home with you if you can help it.

"Man, who was created for joy, degenerates into a workhorse and a mindless consumer."

This is the most true sentence I have read quite possibly ever. It is the sentence in the quote that ties all my thoughts together. But onto the last part first, then I'll come back to this nugget of truth. 

 "We must learn on earth how to celebrate properly, or else we will not know what to do in heaven. Heaven is an endless Sunday."

So if we never take time off, like really take time off, disengage our minds from work and live in the moment (i.e. enjoy time with our children, spouse, friends, family), we aren't doing our part to learn how to celebrate properly. I like the idea that we need to practice celebrating. I mean, really, it's true. It takes some practice to be a good hostess (can't say I'm there yet) or throw a good party. It's not exactly intuitive.

But again, let me go back to that sentence that really struck me: "Man, who was created for joy, degenerates into a workhorse and a mindless consumer."

I've been thinking about this in relationship to abortion, birth control, population control, and that "It's a Girl!" trailer I saw, and also with the women in the workplace movement (old, I know). Why, I've been wondering, is this population control issue so big in India and China, the largest population countries in the world? Call me a conspiracy-believing crazy person, but I've always wondered, did the US have anything to do with this? Wouldn't it have been to the benefit of us to not have China be so huge population wise and take over? But I now have a new hypothesis that fits more situations even more nicely. It fits with Chairman Mao, it fits with Roe v. Wade, it fits with colonialism and "the pill" and parents smothering their newborn baby girls in India. The motivation behind these issues is just to turn us, women and men, into "workhorses" and "mindless consumers". Because if we have less children and can spend more time in the workforce, we can be "more productive". More productive for who? More productive for our families to grow and become stronger? Maybe, maybe not. More productive for ourselves (and families) spiritually, mental health-wise? Maybe, maybe not. More productive to benefit the people in power? Maybe, maybe not. Think about it. All I know is Mother Teresa is right. If we kill our babies (i.e. joy) to become "mindless consumers" and "workhorses", we certainly are far poorer than any Untouchables dying on the streets of Calcutta.

But I understand that nowadays, the world is such that sometimes both parents do have to work, at least if you don't fancy living in an apartment for the rest of your life. Or maybe just to get by. The beauty of this quote I came across is that it gives an important solution that works with our crazy world. We need to take time off from working. We need our Sundays (heck, we need our Saturdays and occasional three-day weekends too). And we need to make a point of not just mindlessly drudging through the weekend. We need to actually make Sunday into a celebration! We need to give ourselves some time to celebrate spiritually (however you do that), to celebrate being with family, and to celebrate the joy in Nature. In fact, that would be fun. Maybe I should try to do "Sunday dinners". I mean, it would take some planning and motivation. But I have to start practicing sometime, right? Maybe it can be a long-term goal.

So what do I think about my work? Well, I like it. It is a good job to have if you have to have a job. I pointed out to my mom that even within my field I think my job is pretty plush. I don't have to decide if someone can safely swallow or not (more towards life or death sorts of decisions, not for me). I don't have to convince adults to practice at home (I am the worst example of not doing home exercises). I don't have 78 kids on a school caseload. I have about 18 kids that I'm working with. Some of those are only twice a month. And the number will grow, but only up to about 40 or so. And I have some awesome families I'm getting to meet and work with. Really, nothing to complain about in and of itself. My co-workers are all so nice too and answer all my questions, which are quite frequent and numerous. I've only gotten sick once so far (on Thursday - but the sickness season is just starting!) and my hours are somewhat flexible (I don't have to be there 8-5 as long as I do approximately 40 hours and do my job). The paycheck part is nice. The main area where I often feel stress is around finances, so to have less financial stress means I feel less stress overall. There is something though, about working and being away from your baby so long every day. It does feel a little "workhorse"-ish. I can always change my FTE (full time equivalent) after I finish my clinical fellowship, I suppose. I was talking with the dental assistant when I went to the dentist, and it was interesting. We were both feeling the same thing about being away from our babies. It wasn't quite right, it wasn't quite meant to be that way. But you have to do your job because you have to support your baby somehow. It is worth thinking about. Not just for me, but as an overarching cultural norm. Hm...