Virgin Crowning

I was looking out at the lilac bush yesterday and I thought of my mom. It's her favorite flower and I try to bring her a bunch each year. There is only about a two week window when they bloom, and then they're gone. Unfortunately this year it will be impossible. Mom is locked down in her apartment and we aren't allowed to visit. I also noticed that my tulips were starting to droop. They're near the end of their season just as the lilacs come into their own. The drooping tulips reminded me of a particular event in my childhood, the Saint George School and Church May Procession. The year I wasn't kicked out of it. Seriously, in all the years I went to Saint George School, I was only allowed to participate in one of those events. Each year the nuns would organize the annual crowning of the Virgin Mary in our church. This would involve most of the Saint George School children and we would practice for weeks out in the church parking lot. The nuns would draw an outline of the inside of the church on the pavement with chalk, and we'd practice marching in perfect alignment into the church and down the aisle while singing a song in Latin. It was very much like a military parade with seven year olds. I hated it. Don't get me wrong, I loved getting out of class in the morning for a couple of weeks, but I didn't like the regimentation. So I would act up. This would invariably get me kicked out before the big day, but one year I made it all the way to the actual day of the procession. I informed my mom that I would need a fresh flower to hold between my praying hands while I walked in fake piety into the church. So Mom went out to her garden and got me a big old tulip. Apparently tulips are not good as cut flowers. By the time I got to my place in line for the procession, my tulip was wilted and drooping. I was very embarrassed as I marched up into the church with my flaccid tulip. I wouldn't have another failure like that for many years after that evening.

Trouble