Short-Person Challenge

What if someone:

• Gets dropped off to go into weekly 10:15 am CCD* class, a little late, 10:18 am.
• And you trust her to walk in, snug in her nude-pink fuzzy hoodie [the same nude-pink color of the moment that her big sister, Figgy, loves, and in fact, you would like something that color, too]. Her friend is in the car, and you have to drop her at her home after their sleepover and then get to 10:30 Mass yourself. And Fuzzy Hoodie has indeed walked in alone before...
• And then Fuzzy H. climbs back into the car, a back-seat prank, as you round the bend.
• And you laugh a little and then say, Go, you must go to CCD now. You are 3 minutes late. I will be right back to go to Mass. And she walks toward the Catholic school, which is next to the Catholic church. And you drop off the nice friend and go back to church and then Fuzzy joins you near the end of Mass, sitting next to you in the pew, as the CCD kids are allowed to do. They can come over to Mass and join their families when class is over.
• And she begs you to please, please borrow your classic Burberry plaid wool scarf and you finally relent. And she covers her head and hair with it, like a disguise, a babushka. And you know immediately that she has done something wrong at CCD and is trying to hide--from a teacher, a child, someone. And you know that lately, she has been saying, You can't make me go to CCD. I'm not Catholic. I'm Jewish. Which of course she is not, but two close friends are, and she even went to Hebrew school with them once.....
• So you say to her after church, before you both go down to coffee hour and the bake sale for Haiti, Tell me what happened. It's not good to keep secrets inside. It will eat up your heart....
• And she tells two fibs before getting to the truth. 1. I pulled the fire alarm. 2. I beat up a boy. and you can tell they are fibs and then, finally, the truth. 3. I didn't go to my class and I walked around inside the school instead, and Mrs. S. [who is the good woman who runs the program] told me I had to go to class and that now every week you have to walk me up to class. And she asked if you were at Mass and I said I didn't know. And I don't want to go downstairs for donuts because Mrs. S. might be there. Please, Alice, I'm scared.
• I'm glad you told me, you say. But I'm disappointed.
• And then indeed Mrs. S. is at donuts & coffee, standing near the bright, Blue's Clues-blue frosted cupcakes on the bake sale table, and you talk about what happened and apologize and she says, What I'm really worried about is her safety. If she really doesn't want to be there, there's no use forcing her and you say, I'm not willing to give up yet. I know she believes in God. I mean I don't understand what the big deal is, why she can't go for one hour a week. And Mrs. S. agrees, One hour. Okay.

Dan and I were/are both very upset and disappointed.

Rough road.

Good night.

*Per Wikipedia: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) is an association established in Rome in 1562 for the purpose of giving religious education. Its modern usage is a religious education program of the Roman Catholic Church, normally designed for children. In some parishes, CCD is called PSR, meaning Parish School of Religion.
+I went to Catholic elementary school, where we had religion classes. I went to public high school, so for one or two years of high school? I went to weekly evening CCD. Somebody jokingly called it Coffee Cake & Donuts.

TCOY

1. Warm bath with Dr. Teal's salts.
2. Walked Sug around block; pretty moon.
3. Listening, praying, singing and being present at Mass.
4. Nice long nap, while Dan supervised Punch's involved written science project.
5. Roasted big pan of cauliflower florets.
6. TODAY IS DAY 12 off refined sugar path. When I made the rosemary shortbread, I used very little [3 teaspoons] sugar. That's within my fence, so far at least. When grams of sugar per serving are about 4-8 or less, I generally say OK. I walked today's rough road without nibbling a single chocolate-chip cookie; or donut at coffee hour; or bowl of Ben & Jerry's nondairy ice cream from freezer. This is good. However, I did eat way too many of the Cheetos left from sleepover. Series of unfortunate events.

$ MONEY SPENT OUT OF POCKET

• Kids' church bake sale for Haiti, 1/2 dozen excellent fresh bagels with container of cream cheese; big Granny Smith apple dunked by hand in caramel, chocolate and toppings; and container of tiny chocolate-chip cookies, plus $2 donation, $21. [Sweets went to Punch's room--if she doesn't want, she can throw out.]
• Cornerstone Montclair, $14.90. Punch and I love this store. It's right across from our church and promotes an inclusive community for all.

TOTAL DAILY SPEND: $35.90.

RUNNING TOTAL FOR MONTH AS OF NOV. 10: $580.52.

AVG. DAILY SPEND: $58.05.

COMPARE TO 3 PRIOR MONTHS:

TOTAL SPEND FOR OCTOBER (31 DAYS): $2,495.36.🍎 ⬆️

AVERAGE DAILY SPEND: $80.49.🍎 ⬆️

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TOTAL SPEND FOR SEPTEMBER (30 DAYS): $2,214.43.🍎⬇️

AVERAGE DAILY SPEND: $73.81.🍎⬇️

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TOTAL SPEND FOR AUGUST (31 DAYS): $2,895.06. ⬆️

AUGUST AVERAGE DAILY SPEND: $93.39.  ⬆️