Cheerios v. Puffs

In the House of God, which prevails, Cheerios or Puffs?

Taking John's niece and nephew to Mass today, I was reminded of a memorable experience w/JW and how we get so much wiser as we get older.  

As all parents learn, when you want to keep a one-year-old quiet for a period of time such as an hour-long Mass, the best option is always food.  For JW, it was a small container of dry Cheerios.  For his nephew and namesake, it's Puffs.  

Thirty-six years ago, we were attending Epiphany Parish in Brick, NJ.  It was a brand new parish - thus, it did not even have it's own church building. Instead, Sunday Mass was held in the gym of the local high school. 

Today, we attended Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, a Franciscan parish in Triangle, VA.  And instead of Cheerios, John's nephew had Puffs. 

Way back when, somehow, in the middle of Mass, JW managed to drop the entire bowl of Cheerios on the gym floor.  Being a smooth wood floor, the Cheerios went flying anywhere and everywhere to the notice of just about everyone.  There was no way to gracefully recover from such an event.  

Puffs, of course, are much lighter. In addition, the church today had carpeting rather than wood floors.  Most important of all, John's nephew's grandparents gave him only two puffs at a time, rather than a whole bowlful. 

Much has changed, not the least of which is the wisdom of John's parents.  

Photos of JW and his namesake at comparable ages are below. 

KC - A Happening Place

Summer 2005 - The last (and only time) we took JW to the Kennedy Center.  It was to see the play "Hairspray."

Autumn 2013 - The first time we take JW's niece and nephew to the Kennedy Center.  It was to see an NSO "Teddy Bear Concert."

What a difference 8 years makes.

John's niece with the man himself.  

Marooned at Sea (sort of)

The other day, John's mom and I had the opportunity to go for a ride on our boat on a warm October day. It brought back memories of an earlier ride in a much smaller boat to the same point of interest.

The boat was our 16' skiff.  The ride was with JW and his then girlfriend. The boat was as pictured below, although in this picture are John's brother and sister (I could not find a picture with John in the boat).

We had gone to brunch at Morris Point restaurant on nearby creek.  After brunch, I decided on the spur of the moment to take them out on the nearby Potomac, to  Nomini Bay in Virginia.  We had a little more than half in a 6 gallon gas tank.

In any event, this little excursion was about 14 miles round trip with the Potomac itself over 5 miles wide at that point (see below).  Furthermore, while John's mom and I had made the trip many times before, we never did it with four people in the boat.  Finally, the river was somewhat choppy so the trip was slow with our 25 HP engine.

To make a long story short, with the extra passengers and choppy conditions, I used more gas than I expected --about half or more of the remaining gas just getting across the river.  Somewhat nervously, I started to head back to the Maryland side but soon reversed course, not convinced I had enough gas to get back and not wanting to get marooned in the middle of the river.  There, of course, we're no marinas in Namoni Bay and not very many homes as well. I saw some folks fishing on the shore, went up to them and explained our plight.  I was graciously offered a ride to a gas station, about 5 miles away, and proceeded to spend my last 5 dollars for just enough gas to get back to the other side of the river.

I'm not certain if JW ever went for a boat ride with me after that.  At the very least, it was a memorable one.