Barbie Jesus

Today I'll tell you a weird fact about me: I was a very rigid kid, very much of a rule follower. I was really into things happening in the correct order at the correct time. Maybe it's because I was a middle child; maybe it's because I was raised Catlick. But I definitely thought that rules were there for a reason, and if you just followed the rules and the implicit schedule of life then God, the nuns, and the grownups would be pleased and life would be good.

Hey, I was so rigid that I wouldn't read Seventeen Magazine because I was only 13.

Yeah, really.

I was also a very religious kid, particularly in 7th and 8th grade. For Christmas one year I asked for and received a statue of Infant Jesus of Prague, complete with outfits and removable golden crown! It was like Barbie Jesus, and I was in heaven. It came with a booklet that explained which outfit Jesus should wear during the various seasons in the liturgical calendar -- white for Easter, red for Christmas, black for Lent, green for something...-- glorious! I adhered to the outfit calendar religiously (sorry). The booklet also contained the appropriate prayers to go along with the seasons. Every night I would light up an incense cone in front of the statue and kneel down to say my prayers before I went to bed.

Infant Jesus of Prague at Cafe Hon in Baltimore

I'm sure my parents were chuckling through the whole phase.

Thank goodness for high school. I managed to relax a little there, but I was still quite sure of how my life would unfold, according to a schedule, right on time.

Then I went to college. And that was the end of rigidity, rule following for the sake of rule following, and living my life by an unseen schedule. HAH!