Our church consists of two separate church buildings connected by a central hall. There is the mid-1800’s era church we now call The Chapel. Our main church, the one where all the Sunday Masses are conducted, is on the other side of the hall. We call that one The Church. The Church’s entry doors are located inside the hall.
So everyone leaving church after Mass must go into this central area, that we have given the imaginative name of The Gathering Space.
Parishioners gather in The Gathering Space after Mass to catch up, chat and have a bit of fellowship.
As we moved through the post-Mass crowd the other day we ran into Carolyn Gregory. Her son Andrew was one of Richard’s friends in youth group. About a half dozen of the guys in that high school group became known as The Posse. As you can see, we’re big on snappy names in our parish.
As we talked with Carolyn, we of course asked about Andrew. Carolyn told us about his progress in school where he is getting close to graduation and the big job search. She mentioned about how they were going to go shopping for a suit for Andrew to wear on his interviews.
Oh Oh. I was expecting Debbie to start crying. I had a lump in my throat.
You see, Richard was getting ready to start his junior year in business college at the University of Kentucky. He was making plans for interviews and internships. He’d asked Debbie to go shopping with him to pick out a new suit for those occasions.
She was looking forward to it a lot. I’m not sure if Richard was more interested in her taste in suits or her use of the check book, but his momma was thrilled with the request.
But that shopping trip never happened.
And our conversation in The Gathering Space served as a reminder of that. And the reason why.
That’s how easy it is to get tripped up on the grieving path.
We both left church with a heavy heart, but neither of us cried. I guess that’s progress.
Photo credit: The image above was borrowed from The Men’s Warehouse website. I hope they don’t mind. If you need a suit or clothing, buy something from them to make it up to them.
One response to “The Suit That Never Was”
“The Men’s Warehouse” That’s where I was planning to take Richard to shop for suits. I was hoping to cash in on one of their two for one sales, and looking forward to seeing our son all decked out and ready to go. I have no doubt he would have been impressive, but then I’m his mother.
I was really looking forward to that shopping trip with him, I just hope other mothers will go on this outing with their son with a smile and thank God for the opportunity. Those are times we should hold in that special place in our hearts to look back on.