Curses and Blessings

So yesterday was the redo of my postponed friend birthday party.
It started out allright. Dema, Daina, Becca and Emily all came over we ate frozen pizza and hung out and talked.
Daina was the first person with the piniata. It was on a levy system so I was pulling the piniata out of harms way whenever she tried to hit it. On her third swing though she knocked his head clean open- Literally. The helmet was cut cleanly away from the face mask, and all of Vador's candied brains lay open to the sunshine. It looked better than the fat white guy that originally was supposed to be in there. We took pictures of some of us wearing the Vador hat. I need to put those up here.
My dog, funnily enough was scared of the piniata. Even after it was smacked open she was still nervous about it.
We were all upstairs when my mom came and told us we needed to go outside. She looked terrible. We found my Dad waiting by Becca's car with a tall teenager. He apparently had run into Becca's car while trying to pull out of his drive way. Did I mention that Becca's car had just recovered from a simular hit a few weeks ago? We had to wait around a few hours until the cops got all the paperwork done. Becca had to stay outside in the heat to answer questions about insurance. He parents drove thirty minuetes to my house to make sure everything was ok. Becca's mom, who has anxiety problems, wanted to take Becca home but we convinced her to let Becca stay. We finally got to Lazer tag around 8:30.
Let me just say that I have the worst shooting aim ever. Of course it might have somthing to do with the fact that niether of my guns had a lazer sight. Dema, on the other hand completely kicked our buts, even when she had a gun without a lazer sight. She had the highest score over all for both games! She cheated a little bit though, for some reason her gun never ran out of bullets. The Collierville lazer tag is pretty crappy. They don't even have proper air conditioning!
Even though I'm a bad shooter somthing about lazer tag makes me feel so cool and suave. I strut like an idiot with a lazer gun, it just makes me feel like the coolest action hero ever. I should never join the army big guns go to my head apparently. Dema on the other hand could be a russian snyper if she wanted.
We took a break between the two games and after the second one Becca said she needed to sit down and do her breathing exercises but that she would be ok. Even when she started feeling dizzy I was convinced that it was just the after effects of running so hard. It wasn't until she started loosing feelings in her limbs and people started comeing up that I realized how serious this was. Maybe I didn't want to realize but that was selfish of me. I should have called Dad for her inhaler instantly. She had to go to the hospital. I had to watch them strap her to a stretcher and put her in the ambulance. I still feel like such an idiot. I'm sorry if I scared anybody there. When things get tough like that I focus on one thing at a time.
Becca's ok now but I guess that rules out lazer tag. We can still go bowling though.
Dema and Daina had to leave afterward but Brooke came over and she and Emily were really awesome. They made me laugh. I don't think they'll realize how much help they were. Without them I'd have stayed in that emotional trainwreck for a few more hours. We stayed up till 3am and watched 27 Dresses, which is very funny and sweet-- one of the perfect chick flick movies. Not so melodramatic as the Notebook or somthing like that.
The next morning Mom asked me to go to church with the family but by that time I was so worn out I just needed some time alone to cry so I went to Incarnation. Going to mass always feels like a spiritual bath. I come out feeling all loose and refreshed, as if I really did leave it all at the altar.
I went to my first catholic small groups meeting today too.
Over half my small group members are converts! And alot of them are very Biblically educated so the conversation was that wonderful mix of enlightenment and edification. The deacon in my small group was converted by his wife who became catholic after they had been married several years. These people were so comforting and encouraging. Thank you God for making me so prosperous!
One part of the conversation really struck me. We were talking about tithing and about how God will take care of us no matter what. All that "give us our DAILY bread" not anything more or less, and "I shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil for though art with me" The idea is that you are still walking through the valley of death, but the promise is that God will carry you through it.
"But there are christians who are starving in Africa" I said, "surely God doesn't mean that no christian will starve I mean there are some pretty tough stuff in this world."
But no, they reminded me that no christian in the CHURCH could really become homeless or starving becuz the community of believers, the church, God's hands on earth, would take care of them. "I mean really," said one woman, "do you think any of us could become homeless?" meaning that we'd obviously take one another into our homes. The catholic church is perhaps one of the few institutions in the world capable of doing that. All the money from every parrish goes to help every other parrish in the world. There are world wide programs to help the poor and suffering in the church. The Catholic church is the worlds biggest charity program. This all washed over me when she said this.
"Silly Alyssa, you were thinking like a Protestant"
I have community now! Even though I don't know these people, even though this was their first time meeting me these people in that room and world wide will carry me, and I will carry them.
I don't know how to adequately express my joy on a blog when I whisper wonderingly to myself.
"I have Community. I have The Church!"