Momma Mary

I have always been drawn to the Catholic Church. Not necessarily in the traditional sense (like attending mass every Sunday and participating in confession- although I should now that I think about it) but because there is so much history within it and the secrecy is super intriguing... not to mention all the rules and the saints. When I was in high school I started to question my faith and that's when I not only criticized the church but also turned to the church for help. Since then my perspective on faith and religion has fluctuated constantly. I will not get into the whole thing but all I really want to say is that I think its important to be a good person. I don't care what other people believe in or don't believe in--- as long as they are good to each other.

WE visited a shrine to "Mother Mary" that is not too far from my parents home. I am surprised I didn't even know it was there. Although its probably better because I am sure I would have found myself many a night sitting under the stars asking "why?" There were a bunch of people at this relatively large area where the supposed sighting happened of Mary like a hundred years ago. The cool part is that people can have such a strong faith and believe in something they did not see with their own eyes. I have to say that the property did give off a feeling (weather that be divine or eerie--- up to the participant) and I was glad that we decided to stop by and explore. After we visited with the groundskeepers and the little lady running a fruit stand, we were back on the road again. This led us to Lincoln, Wi to find the grave sight of my ancestors on the Jones side (I think). There is a large square plot where an undetermined amount of "Jones" (my grandfather's mother's family who's maiden name was "Fetts" and that's where her parents are buried (so my great great grandparents) that are only marked with a 3X3 stone and a faded "J" engraved into it. Every summer that Mary and Carlos come to visit us in Wisconsin we go to uncover the few stone corner pieces and measure out the dimensions of the area. I have to say that because we have done it the last few times they have visited, this may be turning into a tradition--- which would be okay with me. Mary has been on a serious quest (for the last 10 years or so I would say) to discover who we are and where we came from. I was always under the impression that I was a full blooded German on my Mothers side and a mix of German, English and ... now that I am writing this I have no idea on my Father's side. But as it turns out we may have some Bohemian on the Jones side (which makes sense to me- hahaha) and a bunch of other heritages we didn't even realize there were ties to... its like uncovering caverns in the secret caves or something...keep up the good work Mary.

We finished up the day by stopping at the Door County Cherry Outlet Store where we got to taste various treats all descending from cherries (by now you must be picking up on my theme--- or at least I just did- weird). Katie has been such a big girl and using the toilet so that means frequent stops along the way. This time she wanted me to go with her which I was totally okay with because there was a big jar of chocolate covered cherries in the hall on the way to the "double-vay-cea"...French for water closet which is British for bathroom... sorry I got off the logic path- oh yah- Chocolate.  Looking back it makes me wonder how many other hands passed over that jar and with hand washing being such a forgotten skill- there were probably like a million little bacteria roaming over those sweet treats but at the time I didn't even blink twice... and frankly could go for some Chocolaty goodness while I type--- they were great!