Pic-A-Nick

I've mentioned before that we're Catholic. It's more tradition than a Faith with us. I won't go deep into our position with the Catholic Church because it would get messy.


But we both grew up with the practice of Catholism and were educated in the school system. I myself went thru Catholic Colleges for both undergrad and graduate school. Our children are educated thru the parochial and the archdioscese education system.


So we've lived in our neighborhood for 20 years and have belonged to the neighborhood Catholic parish during all this time. We've always been active in the parish, primarily because of the school. Because of the discrepancy in our children's ages (24 & 12), we've have a kid in school there for 15 consecutive years. Without a break. That's 15 years of tuition folks. Of course we're going to do everything we can to keep down the costs.

This year, Husband is the annual church picnic chairman. For those of you unfamiliar...shame, shame. Nothing like a Catholic Church Picnic. Beer drinkin', gamblin', prize booths, fried chicken, fish and bratwurst... Mmmmm... Gambling isn't a sin if you're doing it for a charitable cause...like the church.. And since so many Catholics are of Irish, German and Italian descent, you surely can't rule out drinking. This is the place to be in the summer. On some parochial grade school grounds catching up with your neighbors, family, people you haven't seen in years, people you went to grade school and high school with... Typically, a Church's picnic is the biggest annual fundraiser for a parish. So you're drinkin' and gamblin' for a good cause.

It started out simple enough. Years ago Husband started out helping because Son's basketball coach was Chairperson. Within a few years he found himself running one of the popular gambling booths. He did a good job and kept doing it for a couple of years. Before you knew it, he was knighted as Gaming Chairman. Head of all gambling. I guess they figured since he was Italian and Catholic, it was a natural transgression, kinda like Al Pacino in The Godfather. He'll make you "an offer you can't refuse".

He held that position for a couple more years. Then the most recent picnic chair couple had to resign for personal reasons. No one stepped forward. Once again, before he knew it, he was asked to be Picnic King. He pondered it a while... asked if that meant he got his own walkie-talkie and golf cart and when powers that be said "sure thing" he readily accepted. What a schmuck.

As Picnic Czar, he is responsible for everything no one else feels like messing with.. It's hard work. There's way more to it than either of us thought. And it's a thankless job. It's one of the jobs where you just can't please everyone all the time. Don't let anyone ever tell you that politics and religion have nothing in common. Not sure which one spawned the other, but they're definitely closely related. Everyone vying for their interests. And you don't get much help or cooperation. There are so many people who figure that if they pay their money for tuition and tithe to the church then they don't need or want to do anything else. Some people don't see both sides of the coin. It's events like this, organized and managed by the church/school families that keep those costs down. I know the cost is still high, but every little bit helps.

Now all while he's Picnic King, let's remember that I am on our school's board as well as the athletic board. So right now, all of our spare time, (except when I'm blogging) is spent at church/school. We've rescheduled our annual June vacation because of this. No wonder we don't go to church every Sunday! We're there all the time anyway!

So this blog is dedicated to Nick, my husband.. who is selflessly giving all of his time, effort, muscle and smarts to church until mid-June. And is ready to pull all of his thick Italian hair out.. Someone should recognize this and I figure it might as well be me.