Tantalizing Tidbits: The Baptism - I Become a Godmother

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Baptism - I Become a Godmother

Baptism Bracelet & Dress & her Mommy's Wedding Ring

I’ve mentioned (a lot) how I was asked to be my niece Lana’s godmother, and I made the long trek over to NH for the ceremony. Well, it happened. I’m now an official godmother! Yay me! The day began early…6am NH time, 3am CA time. I woke up and asked my friend how the club was going, as it was still Saturday night there and everyone was out LOL. BUT this was the ONE morning I didn’t mind waking up so early, because it had a special purpose. I’d had a really hard time finding a proper dress to wear to the ceremony, and ended up wearing a jumper I’d gotten for work, but it looked ok. At least I was a bit more organized on the baby. I’d ordered a baptism dress from Etsy that my mother and sister picked out, and had it delivered to NH ahead of time. I also got Lana a monogrammed baptism bracelet from another shop on Etsy, and brought that with me to Nh to surprise her. When my parents, brother and I arrived at my sister’s house, no one was dressed and Lana was still asleep. AAH! My brother in law and sister (Robert and Beth) got dressed in record time, and we got Lana’s dress and bracelet on her, but didn’t get many good photos, oh well. My brother doug and I headed over to the church down the street, because we were the godparents! The church itself is on the town square of the small NH town my sister lives in, and is a great example of an old New England church. The pastor found us soon after we entered. He was just a substitute, so I never met the real one. This was a little old man with not many teeth, who confessed that the last time he’d done a baptism had been when he first started years ago. Yikes! He told us to just read the responses when the time came as we stood up. Ok… Walking into the room, there weren’t many people there. This is a nice sized building, but the congregation itself is very small. There were more people there for the baptism than the actual every Sunday service. The front row was for just me, doug, beth, Robert and lana (the latter three who arrived just in time). This is kind of a bad combination, as none of us regularly attended church in childhood or adulthood. We had no one to watch for cues of what to do, and EVERYONE could see us the whole service. It began, and throughout, the four of us regularly scrambled to find songs in the books and peered over our shoulders to see when we were supposed to be sitting and standing. The most interesting part, besides the baptism itself, was communion. None of the four of us had ever done communion. There was a reading, then we all sang a song, which curiously sounded like a Disney song, the way the tune and even the lyrics were. I felt like I was in a cartoon. I was intensely interested, yet super nervous. Would they make me eat that bread? What would happen? I’ve never done communion! I’ve never had a first communion! I can’t do it NOW! The pastor got a nice round fluffy bread and cut it in four quarters. It looked like very good bread. It was on a plate on a table they brought out. Then he poured wine into some glasses. A few people, dressed very scruffily, who had been helping out by lighting and putting out candles, took the wine glasses and some flat breads, leaving the one the minister had cut on the table. People came and lined up, and dipped their bread in the wine (juice?) then ate it. Some of them came and yanked my sister and brother in law over, telling them they had to do it. I couldn’t pay much attention to them, because another one was trying to get doug and I to. You can join us if you want they said. Um, no thank you? I’ll just sit here, I said. Luckily they let me, and they let doug sit it out too. Crisis averted! And then of course, the main thing, the baptism. Half way through the service, the five of us stood up with the pastor, and he read some passages, and asked the parents if they would agree to raise the baby in the eyes of god and they had to respond yes. Then he asked myself and my brother, and we had to respond yes. Then he asked the congregation as well. This man didn’t know how to hold a baby because he had Lana squished hanging half down, with her arm twisted behind him under his arm. She had been good the whole service but crushed like this, she began to cry. A random woman held up a piece of paper which he read from, and she kept patting Lana’s leg, like that would help. He put water on her head over her cries. It was pretty funny! But at the same time I was really touched, and had a hard time not crying in front of the whole room. I was getting a giant responsibility, a baby that I have to take care of for the rest of her life. After the service, doug and I had to sign a baptism certificate, and we got handbooks. It said silly obvious things like remember to say happy birthday and you might want to send her gifts, and also that in the event the parents die or something, we have to make sure she’s cared for. Yikes. Hopefully anyway my sister will lead a long, happy life. The rest of the day was anticlimactic. Some relatives came over to my sister’s house and Robert and my uncle eric grilled. I wasn’t feeling well and spent the day lying reading in the backyard. But there we go, I’m a godmother!