Outdoor Mass

Our parish picnic is this weekend and this evening, we attended the outdoor mass. What a circus!!!

So it's 258 degrees outside and I'm already straining to hear Father speak during the homily because of the outdoor sound system. Suddenly I hear this "VWIP!" Pause, pause, pause. "VWAP!" Pause, pause, pause. "VWIP!" Pause, pause, pause. "VWAP!" I look down and Mason is sitting in the stroller where Benjamin just was and is pushing the umbrella of the stroller down over his body and back up again. I give him a glare and he says "Boo!" and then giggles in delight. I wrangle him out of the stroller only to hear Emily shout "Ben just puked!" Great. I bend over and ask her to please not use the word puke in public as I feel the warmth spread between my sandled toes.

Ben starts crying so Ryan decides to put him back in the stroller and walk him around the tents to see if he'll go to sleep. I think to myself, OK. Good. Now I only have the 3 older ones to watch over. And just as I finish that thought, Emily starts playing with the stroller and Mason folds up his little chair he was sitting in. And then unfolds it. And then folds it. And then unfolds it. I fight the urge to grab them all by their little hands and drag them out of the tent and instead swipe the chair out of his grasp and tuck it under my arm. This "circus" goes on and on throughout the entire mass, but you get the picture.

I always look forward to the outdoor mass because for some reason, I have this very incorrect notion that the noise of being out doors will cover up the noise of my children. But every year, I am reminded that when children are outside, they want to PLAY! Never mind the man wearing the robe up in front and the people bowing their heads during the consecration! Not even the familiar songs we sing make them realize that even though we are outside, we are still "at Church".

So, I am already looking forward to next week when we can file into our usual pew and worry about our kids' voices echoing in the rafters and breaking the silence. Because even though it SEEMS loud in church, their behavior really is so much tamer than it is outside.

I guess it's just as it should be.