What a nightmare!

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but my daughter is getting her confirmation tomorrow. Or supposed to. This whole confirmation process has been an unorganized nightmare. First of all, we get a schedule of volunteering opportunities. The kids were told they had to work a certain number of hours last school year. Ok. Then one of the MUST do's is the kids are paired up and the first weekend of the month when people bring in food pantry donations, each pair is responsible for a particular mass to bring the donations after mass to the rectory and sort them. OK. Of course no thought is given to the fact that there are 5 services from Saturday evening through Sunday night, and maybe there is a reason why certain families attend certain masses. I never go on Saturday, because between her dance( which last year was done 15 minutes before that mass, but her studio is 25 minutes away) And Curt bowls on Sat night and has to be 30 minutes away, 30 minutes after mass STARTS. So naturally she gets assigned Sat night. She tried to trade with a kid who ALWAYS goes on Sat nights for the 8am Sunday service he would find difficult to go to ( mind you she is NOT a morning person, but figured that since I am I;d wake her up and give her a ride) Well the Sister in charge didn't want the "confusion" of trade offs and it was a "sacrifice" so they need to do their scheduled service. Ok not a HUGE deal, since they only had to do it every other month. But still.

Confirmation class was cancelled the week before she was supposed to do it, and when she and her partner got there, no one, not even the priest who said the mass had any clue what they were supposed to do! then by the next class they were told they didn't have to do it anymore.

OK. fine. Then since only a handful of kids showed up to help clean the church on a Saturday morning, they were all told they had to do it at least 2x. Saturday morning is rough for any kid involved in high school sports. There are games, meets, practices etc. She had to try to sign up for the sat between tennis and fencing and the sat between fencing and track. then she made an invitational for fencing which was supposed to be on the sat between fencing and track. so she called to see if she could come later or earlier and they could just tell her what to do, or leave her something to do. They just told her don't worry about it. But now the Sister is acting like she's being a pain! ( ps this nun is not american - not that that matters, especially since american women aren't really becomiiung nuns anymore. But she didn't go to school in the US and she really doesn't understand the lives these kids lead)

Then not enough kids in the church signed up to be in the Living Stations of the Cross. So the kids were told if you want to do that, it would fill all your hours. So she did that. But then, a few weeks later, she got a phone call that there was another mandatory thing that weekend. ( If anyone wonders why kids are not as active in Catholic Churches as in some other churches - take note!)

Anyway, apparantly there was a letter sent out in May. We never got it. Part was due back on July 1st, the other part (with check of course) on Sept 17th. Well obviously we didn't send it back as we never got it. The priest in charge told me well, it didn't come back here you must have got it. Do you KNOW how many times I get other people's mail? Especially since everyone in the circle has to go out to a box thing ( sort of like apartments have but on a post not in the wall) to get their mail that the mailman fills from behind. So I write wrong box and put it back in my box. What about people who don't? Then he says he called and left several messages. Not my phone! I have voice mail on my cell, I never turn off my cell, so no voice mail and no missed calls. I was really good good friends with the previous pastor of the parish. So all the lines are in my phone, because my default ring is no ring, my phone only rings if you are in my contacts. so it would have rang! Either way it would have been a missed call. Went back to July 8th (I had deleted the file july 7th) And not one call. i think he was dialing the wrong area code. At one time NJ had 2 area codes. 201 in the north and 609 in the south. ( now there are 5 or 6) when they created 973, the cell towers were still all 201 so cell numbers didn't roll over like regular land lines. I am one of those dinosaurs who has had the same cell # ( I do get a new phone every 2 years) for the last 17 years. so even though it is a local number the area code is still 201, because when cells went 201 I would have had to change the whole # and I didn't want to do that. So I really do think he was calling 973.

So he couldn't give these forms to the secretary NOOOOO that would be to easy. ( oh did I mention I had to call 3 times to get him, because he never let the scretary know what was going on) he wanted me to see him in person. Said his only open appointment was 10 am this morning. Now, I leave work 4 hours early. Go see him, he looks at me and says how can I help you. Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?

he gives me the forms - yes and I need to give them a $25 check, and says i have to have them back at the rehearsal tonite at 7pm. Ok great. then I look at the forms, i need a copy of her uncles confirmation certificate. He was getting on a plane in california at 8:30am their time which is like 30 minutes from that point. My brother lives in LA. In case anyone lives in a cave ( I guess cave dwellers won't be reading this anyway) there is a lot of TRAFFIC in LA. He would already be at the airport and I don't think he carries it with him.

I call my mom. She looks in her file. She has his baptism and a copy of his birth certificate, even a photocopy of his latest passport (he travels a lot) but she doesn't think she ever had an actual hard copy certificate. She also has no idea what year he was confirmed. So now I look in my stuff and I found a copy of the letter my old church sent this church certifying that i was confirmed so I could get married. ( Mind you no certificate, just a letter) but I got it in 79 which meant my brother either got it in 81 or 82 depending on what month the bishop showed up. My poor mother just drove 30 minutes each way to our old church to get a certificate.

So you think everything is ok right? Well only maybe. I still have to get the certificate from her this afternoon ( 40 minutes each way) AND they moved rehearsal from 8pm to 6:30 pm. Hello? it's not like he can leave work a few minutes early. He's on a plane with a layover and there's a big rainstormon the way and his flight isn't scheduled to land in newark until 5:45pm and even when it's not raining to get from Newark to here during rushhour is at best an hour. So best case scenario he's 15 minutes late, worse case he comes in around midnight. Scenario that implies I should just start killing people and bumping off banks - his flight is cancelled and he flies in in the morning. Oh and they couldn't tell me that when I'm in the rectory. NOOOOO. I get home ( no point in going back to work for an hour and a half, and since I have a 130 appointment I can't stay late) there is a message on the answering machine from the Sister ( why can't they use the same #?) about rehearsal. so now I have to call again. And they are alll hummmmm isn't there anyway he can get here in time? Duh? Plane? He's supposed to change his connecting flight while on another flight in midair? Have these people never flown? Did they get here in boats? Rafts? submarines? i mean I guess you can drive from south america, but it'd be a bit tough from africa. ( mind you, he was orginally flying in tomorrow morning, but the investment group that owns most of one company he works for wanted a short meeting, so he's doing that in the am tomorrow) so then he's like - well one of you maybe can stand in for him if he's not there and let him know what's going on. GRRRRRRRR.

Rant over ------- for now.