Have you ever

gone on a really long, convoluted trip and realized, in retrospect, it was all for one or two small things that happened along the way? I feel that way about my former life a lot of the time but that's a story for another time...let's stick to today.

This morning was the last Pittsburgh Symphony Tiny Tots concert. If you live in Pittsburgh and have little people (or check out the school time concerts up to middle school!) you really should make it to a performance. It's free (except for parking and/or trolley fare) and you get to see a world-famous orchestra in a family-friendly setting.

Today's performance was at 9:30 so that's too early to reserve parking and I didn't feel like driving around looking for a space. We were blessed today that the rain has passed and it was a really, beautiful Spring day. We are always blessed that the trolley is a 5 minute walk from where we live. So, off we went.

I'm kind of pleased with myself that these days the fear of motherhood has pretty much passed. Five little ones on the train? Yep. Taking them at rush hour? Yep. No stroller? Yep. Exact change for the fare down and a $20 bill for the return trip? Yep. DH always shakes his head when I say "God will provide" but that is slowly seeping into my heart and mind. The trust is there...even if I lose my temper on the way home because we are all beyond exhausted. Here's the story.

8:45, board the inbound trolley. We were blessed to find seats (not all together) so that we didn't have the added fun of a 3-year-old trying to anticipate stops and not fall down. I took this picture when we got on. By the time we got to town, it was standing room only and it did become a bit nerve-wracking to be far away from the two older boys (the white arrows are our kids...Blondie is sitting in the window seat). Still, I had asked Our Mother to watch over us and I felt at peace that we would be protected. So we were.

Out and up the street just in time for a potty break and then settle into our nice seats. I love sitting up high with the kids. You can see everything. Today they played "slow" and "fast" pieces to accompany a race between the tortoise and the hare. So cute.

 

On the way out we saw some former teachers of #1 & #2 so that was special as well. So...done with that, and only 95 minutes to burn before heading to Mass! I am always grateful when I think about things the day before. We headed to Market Square to enjoy a snack I had tossed into the backpack and spend some more time people watching. Then we headed over to PPG to see what was happening.

 Our continuing love affair with the Pittsburgh dinosaurs ;0)

 Resting, planning, chatting

 This is what I love...a building with a sunroof!

Ahh, next stop. Grace.

Unfortunately, we still had about 30 minutes before Mass so we headed up the street to Point Park, turned up to the Boulevard and "ahhhh" cue the heavenly hosts singing. A waterfall! Perfect place to spend our final few minutes.

Finally! Off we headed to St. Mary's. What a beautiful little church. A woman we know from our home parish invited us down to Wednesday Mass sometime because she thought we would enjoy the homily. Let's just say "enjoy" isn't quite enough. Let's say "inspiring". Or, let's let the 9-year-old say it, "Can Father just continue on with that homily? I would really like to hear more. I could really understand what he was talking about. It was amazing." Indeed.

The most interesting part was before Mass began. The cabinet that stored the chalice and paten was locked so Father announced that this wouldn't be a Mass, only a celebration of the Liturgy of the Word. A few minutes later, after Father had begun, another priest came in with the chalice and paten and we proceeded to have Mass. At the end, the presiding priest said, "See how much God loves you? He doesn't want you go to even a day without giving Himself to you."

This story had been long and convoluted...I agree! (I lived it, remember?) Here's the thing. We could have headed home after Tiny Tots. We could have gone to daily Mass before going to Tiny Tots. Feeling led to do what we did gave us the grace we would have obtained and perhaps, a bit more. We needed to be here, at this church, to hear the homily that moved us so. We needed to spend time walking around the city before we could see our friend and visit the most amazing little chapel and be accompanied by a very busy, very important man who took time out to pray with us. Wow. Just wow. 

Our friend said, "you made my day" but I can only think that her suggestion which we followed, with the trust that God would provide, allowed those involved to have a day that was bursting with the workings of the Holy Spirit through every day people. I love that our kids were witness to this! I love it when we are blessed just by taking a little detour in our day. Wow. Is our God good or what?

We are blessed.