Dear Maggie —

I am what you might call “scatter-brained”, but this year I was determined to get my life together and stay on top of my calendar.  Well, that lasted about 4 days… since then, I’ve already missed the first Scout meeting, 2 soccer practices, 3 show-and-shares and a partridge in a pawpaw tree!  To add insult to injury, I threw out all the paperwork I got at Packet Day because, ya know, the whole “I’m going to get my life in order!” thing 🙄.  Honestly, I have no one to blame but myself; by now I should know you CAN’T teach this old dog new tricks.  I am who I am – and that is someone who always feels like I am missing something, which I usually am!  Which brings me to the reason I am writing – I vaguely remember there being something about grade level masses on Sundays in the packet.  I’m sure there was something to sign up for that I’m probably going to miss again!  For the life of me, I can’t find anything about this, and none of the other parents know what I’m talking about when I ask.  I’m pretty sure they all think I’m nuts, for this and I’m sure many other valid reasons.  Is this a figment of my imagination (are YOU a figment of my imagination?! 🤔) or is this a real thing??  Can you please help me gather my scatter and remind me of the details for this event?  I’d REALLY like to not miss yet another event!

— MIA Martha

Dear MIA —

You don’t have to tell me about missing events!  When you’ve been around as long as me, trust me, you miss plenty of things!  This one time at band camp back in the 1600’s I got my dates mixed up and missed Terri’s (that’s St. Theresa to you) canonization – and let me tell you I paid handsomely for this tiny error for about 100 years! 

To answer your question(s), no you didn’t make this up, and also no, I am not a figment of your imagination.  I assure you, both are as real as the halo above my head!  I was able to get a peek at the million things everyone got on Packet Day, and as I remember, it said every third Sunday of the month from August-May at 10:00 AM will be designated as the Sunday Class Mass.  Each class will have the opportunity to celebrate a Sunday Mass together with the St. Margaret of Scotland Parish family throughout the school year.  Students will serve as Greeters, Ushers, Offertory, and Volunteers for Coffee & Donut Fellowship.  Plus, there’ll be a class blessing – but I’m guessing if your family is like mine, I had you at donuts!

The 8th graders started us out strong in August, and the schedule will continue on down the line with 6th grade next, and so on.  If you missed it from Packet Day, click HERE to check the schedule for the year and be sure to sign-up for a spot for each student’s respective class Mass. Teachers from the featured grades will also be in attendance each month along with Mr. Holley.  I always love getting to see kid’s minds get blown when they see their teachers in “normal” clothes. So, do me a solid and bring those kids so I can see their jaws hit the floor when Ms Kirner walks in without her teacher’s “uniform” on.  Plus, it can be an added bonus for Mom and Dad if the kids get to sit with their friends.

I know things get crazy during the school year, between the soccer games, the trivia nights, the walk-a-thon, pizza Friday, and the picnics – it can become overwhelming.  If I had to guess (mostly because I eavesdropped on a convo between my gal pal Ruth Pera and Fr. John over at the rectory), this additional event has been added as a way to work toward strengthening the bond between the Parish and the School – there may be a physical divide of a few city blocks, but when we join together in prayer at Mass on Sundays, we can close that gap. 

And in the meantime, don’t get your bloomers in too much of a twist over going MIA on some events – it happens to the best of us!  Head on over to Amazon, put a pocket calendar in your cart, and call it a day!  That way in a day or 2, you can mark down the next time you can come feast on some donuts in the church basement and have fellowship with your community!  Or at least you can look back and see when you’ve forgotten it again!

— Maggie