Finals week
"Who's dat?" three-year-old Sarah toys with the medals I wear around my neck just as I was about to leave for school, to take my last exam.One eye on the clock, the other on her grubby forefinger, I look closely at the three disks at the end of my chain. "Well, that one's St. Teresa... She's a doctor of the Church."
"Ta-eesa? Oh. Who's dat?"
"That's Mother Mary. She watches over us both while we're away from each other."
"Mother Mary," she echoes, her brown eyes wide. "Who's dat?"
"That," I tell her, "is St. Scholastica."
She regards me with great seriousness for a moment. "Sooo... kooo... asaka."
"Schoooo LAST ica."
"Saskaka?" I smile and hug her. "That's it. Someday, when you go to college like Mommy, I'll get you a set of your very own. These smart ladies help me do my very best at school. I ask them to help me whenever I need to be especially smart, like today."
She grins at me broadly. "SAS suh kuh."
As I pulled out the driveway, I contemplated what a special moment that was. Finals week is always a little tense... The extra studying puts the whole family a bit on edge, as I try to get everything done, and the rugrats vie for my attention. (I call them that in the very fondest sense of the word, of course.) My husband is a man about it, and steps up to fill in the gap with courage and his own inimitable brand of fatherly ministrations. But it is Mom they want, and we all know it.
Not too long ago, my son's preschool teacher accused me of selfishly putting my own education above Christopher's needs. Her words cut to the quick, though everyone who knew us was quick to assure me that Christopher is well within the "normal" range (if a bit active.) Even so, I've decided to take a semester and sort things out. Put my world in order, and give these little kids the attention they crave, and probably will not deign to give me too many years from now.
And so I went into my last final (Church History) with a slight sense of dread (no matter how much I study, it never seems like enough), temporarily buoyed by the return of my research paper on "Widows and Virgins: The Feminine Face of the Early Church." Father called it "objective" and "well-researched," and had some nice words for my writing style.
And once again, I was reminded that one's preferences do not always coincide with one's highest obligations. The computer will always tolerate my muddled ramblings, as I formulate just the right combination of modifiers and superlatives. But for now, a higher call awaits.
Well, actually, a little lower to the ground at the moment. But that, too, will change before I am ready.
Hope your finals week allows your diligence and intelligence to shine with their fullest potential. St. "Saskika," pray for us.
posted by Heidi Hess Saxton @ 7:29 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home