teenage boys loving church service

A smidgen of background will help make this tale a bit more
side splitting funny.

Once upon a time, Mr. Rights's sisters married with church
weddings and receptions two weeks apart. No, I am not going into the
details...(one really had a velvet wedding dress, even had to stop the
wedding procession for a dog sled race.) The entire family was LATE
to both weddings!

Mr. Right does not like, enjoy or embrace being late. He is a great
ex-military man. Yes, we are the family that change the batteries in the smoke
detectors on
the "change the clock" days. Yes, we are the family that changes their
water filter on the correct day, not a day late. The oil in our car
is changed at almost precisely every 5,000 miles. Yes, he keeps charts
and logs. We clean out the refrigerator every Thursday, every Thursday! (the garbage man comes on Friday, silly).

In his words, if we are 10 minutes early to an appointment then sadly we are five minutes late.

A few years back, son 1 & 2 were in high school. We were in the height of "busy". The calendar was written on (a different color for each person) almost daily. We made sporting events, school events, church events, life, work, volunteering, you name it we were involved and did not miss a beat. Everyone was picked up and delivered and we all showed up on time for each other's events. We lived (well and still do) by the calendar and the clock and watches. Every single clock, watch and even the car clock were/are synchronized.

Picture this, Sunday morning......we actually gave up eating before church, just was not going to happen. Getting two over 6 foot teenagers out of bed, encouraging them to get washed, puffed, polished and ready with and choosing to be in a happy, uplifting and positive spirit was really tough. Oh yes, Mr. Right was scrubbed and combed and dressed in pressed clothing with tie already on drinking his coffee, waiting (yet with one eye always, always on the clock)..my putting on panty hose (?), make up , hair, matching shoes, tucking a recipe into my purse that I promised someone, can goods or some other thing to donate I imagine...........trying not to get upset, trying not to yell and scream or swear just to make it to church on time............."hey, can I wear jeans to church, just for today?" Well, for the 17th year in a row, um, well, NO.

I know you want to hear that we sang uplifting Christian songs on the drive to church. I know you want to hear that both boys size 12 or 14 shoes were polished to a high shine. (I will let you guess if Mr. Right's shoes were polished or not.) You want to hear that we chatted back and forth about the Sunday School lesson for the day. POP, that was the bubble bursting. Sorry folks, our van was silent. Everyone in a "mood" of their own. The young gentlemen in the back were in a "mood". Mr. Right was quietly going over his Sunday School lesson. I was thinking something along the lines of does this dress look good on me, dang, I should have added a scarf or different earrings.......

Okay, we drive into the parking lot. We all tumble out and gently but firmly encourage a "quick step", look alive boys, stand up straight, be friendly and please remember this or that..... We go in. Oh my, church has started? This is weird. We are never late? What? Odd. Feels weird. No we do not go to our "normal" pew to sit. We try to be quiet and creep into the back row. We all settle down. We get situated. We try and tell where we are in the program. What? That sounds like the benediction? The last blessing. The final song. What is happening? Mr. Right and I are a bit confused. The boys are happier than I have seen them in a long, long time! They are sitting straighter. They are poking each other. They are laughing with their eyes. They are singing, loud and clear the last song. Did you hear that? They are singing loud and clear and with SPIRIT. The song ends...... the minister raises his arms and says, GO IN PEACE. Our boys jump up and are clamoring to go through the line to shake hands and offer up a blessing. I am sure I heard one saying loudly, Praise the Lord! It all came crystal clear..........We the family of promptness and order FORGOT to set our clocks forward for Day Light Saving Time! Oh the horror we felt. The elation the boys felt.

As we all got into the van, holding our breath as to what Mr. Right would say.......
Guess we have extra time to go out to breakfast today! Then we all broke up laughing and laughing and more laughing. Every single one of us laughed really belly laughed. The boys were singing the last song and bouncing along as we headed into a local restaurant for a Sunday brunch. Those appetites were better & stronger than usual.

It was so nice to take young men to church and see how the spirit moved them!
It was even better to laugh as a family and enjoy a Sunday Brunch with four happy people.

The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.