We don’t tell her this, knowing we’ll get the same response that we got when my brother once told her he didn’t believe in God. She yelled, denying that he would be old enough to make such a decision. He was nineteen.
My parents are not unreasonably religious people. They didn’t care that my Dad’s family was Episcopal and my Mom’s was Catholic. My siblings and I were all baptized in accordance to whatever side of the family was attending, my sister and I in Catholic Churches, my brother in an Episcopal. And when it came to which Church we attended, they chose by convenience, not denomination. In fact, there is a noticeable rise in holy cataloging while in the presence of other family members, and exponentially greater when in close proximity to my grandparents.
Every Sunday, according to my mom, from when I was about four or five years old, I would be the first one up, out of my room and dressed in my navy-blue corduroy overalls/dress, nylons, and clunky black shoes. We’d all walk over to church together, sit through the whole sermon, and stay for a church brunch. When I was older I joined the choir, but had to quit when my mom wanted my brother and I to go through first communion. We transitioned to the Catholic Church, St. Ann’s, only a few blocks down the road, and my sister switched to the Episcopal Church, where all of her friends went. But as time went on, we’d spend Sunday mornings listening to my sister argue with my Dad over whether or not blue jeans were appropriate for Sunday worship, and then, when I was ten, my Dad stopped going to church, and with him went my brother and sister who claimed that, if Dad didn’t have to go, they shouldn’t have to go either. My Mom and I kept going though, just the two of us, until I decided I knew better.
I just read this passage again after having read it in the whole piece earlier. I just noticed how you talk about your family (or your parents/mom at least) as being pretty religious yet offset that with saying you and your siblings were baptized in accordance with whatever side of the family was attending, sort of a lazy (I'm at a loss for a better word) showing of faith. I like this because it gives me the message "yes, my family is religious, but we're not obsessive about it."
ReplyDeleteThere are some grammar slips, but nothing that really takes away from what you mean to say. As for a point to the piece, I can't really draw one main idea from it. I'm sort of confused by the end because you talk about how you were always the first one to get ready to go to church, yet you talk about the conflicting idea of agreeing with your brother about God not really existing or doing things. It confuses me as to whether you are saying that you are religious or if you used to be but not anymore, etc.
I also liked that little tidbit about yellow being the happiest color. I like yellow. It was a bit out of place, I think, but it made me happy.
I like this piece, especially because it doesn't seem like you're holding any back from the descriptive process. If you say it, you mean it, and theres no sugarcoating. I like the sort of jumps through various stages of family attendance at church in the last paragraph, even if i think it feels a little choppy.
ReplyDeleteI love the moth part. There is a great contrast set up there. There is a lot of person consciousness as well which really adds to the story.
ReplyDeleteOverall I think it is a great piece but I think the conclusion paragraph is just thrown in as a way to end quickly. It does not really follow logically with what the paragraphs right before are saying. Otherwise, very nicely done.