When I was a little girl and couldn’t fall asleep, my mom would say, “Now you say your Hail Marys and you’ll be asleep before you know it.” All these many years later, that is still how I go to sleep. Sort of.
When I close my eyes and say my prayers before drifting off, things get a little ADD. I start off pretty intent, but it doesn’t take long for the train to leave the track. Pretty soon, I’m praying for the sick and wondering if I should make chicken for dinner tomorrow nite. Nah, there’s been way too much chicken around here. Maybe a pork roast. Yes, that’s what we’ll have for dinner. I wonder if I’ve got any onions. Did I buy onions the other day? Surely there’s an onion in the fridge. If I do go to the store, I have to get vacuum cleaner bags. Does the Macy’s Mega Sale start tomorrow? I’ll go there first, then get the onion and then a Target run for the rest. I wonder if that check cleared. I better do the bank balance before I go. Say we won half a mill in a scratch-off, and say the IRS takes 40%. O.k., that leaves me with $300K to pay the house and car off. Say we allow $25K to redo the kitchen and paint the house. O.k. we still have some to give to the people whose lives have been a crapshoot these last few years and……….oh, yeah, I was praying for them
I eventually get back to the prayer part after going over the river and through the woods, and it’s why I make it a point to be more accurate and say, “I’ll keep you in my thoughts.” You plus the chicken, onions, vacuum cleaner bags, Macy’s, and a faux lottery win. Maybe even the theme song to “Gilligan’s Island.”
It’s a jumbled interstate winding around up there, but if things are really not going well with you, you will be in my thoughts, and in my thoughts, and in my thoughts, and hopefully somewhere that counts as a prayer.
