Hajja Salesjana Apr-June 2019

26 H AJJA S ALESJANA The place was loud.  As in, I need an Advil  loud.  We were delighted to connect and catch up, but we had to raise our voices into a near shout to hear each other over the thumping music. My friend shared that last year had been her first with all of the children in school.  Not quite there yet myself, I asked her wonderingly, “What did you do with yourself?”  She lit up.  “I’ve been volunteering at a house of hospitality for the homeless,” she shared, telling me about all the different services they provided: showers, meals, laundry. Then she paused.  “And,” she added, “I’ve been silent.” A quiet, still house, sans noise of any kind, to be savored – that had been her sanity. I exhaled.  Only a mother surrounded by noise could appreciate fully that gift. I told her that I understood, a little.  Our long daily commute to school, while a burden in many ways, still afforded me a luxury I’d never had before: a solid half-hour of silence while my youngest napped in the back seat of the van.  Sometimes I prayed the rosary, sometimes I listened to a podcast, but mostly, Photo by Amy Velazquez on Unsplash.com Claire Dwyer on www.spiritualdirection.com into our He I ran into a friend last summer, another mom with lots of littles, at an indoor trampoline park.  It was a sizzling summer day in Phoenix and we’d both reluctantly shelled out too much money for a few hours of much-needed activity for the kids.