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Showing posts with label swine flu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swine flu. Show all posts

Monday, June 8, 2009

YaYa's First Communion: The After Mass Pictures

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YaYa didn't much care for the picture phase of the morning, preferring to get right to the party. It was just about the only thing that didn't go her way the whole day. Here she is with us:

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With my parents

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With Great Aunt Mabel

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With Chris and her family

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With her Godfather

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With Lisa's Mom and Stepfather

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With my sister K

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And sister C

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With the one and only LuLu

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With her Sunday school teacher:

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With the candle we'd made in the prepatory class

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And finally a pair with Father Spitz

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During the photos with the priest LuLu came up and tried to get my attention. When she failed she slugged me in the leg.

"Don't hit your father" said Fr. Spitz.

She cocked her head. "He's my Dad, so uh, yeah I can!"

Nice to know I'm raising them right, huh?

Anyhow, one last note before we move on to the party. After the photos Father Spitz and I got to talking about the Swine Flu. His opinion was that it was ridiculous, even if he did go down the safe and sure route with the communion wine.

"One death out of 300 million people? You'd have worse luck walking across the street." he said.

The next day the state ordered the church and its school closed due to the Swine Flu, one of more than twenty closed in the area. It reopened, without incident, later in the week.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Swine Flu

My girls are (unexpectedly) home from school today. At pick-up Wednesday Lisa was greeted with chants of "no school no school". She stopped and asked some teachers what was going on and was told that there was one confirmed and two probable cases of swine flu among the student body. The school was therefore ordered (?) shut down today, and possibly Friday. I was at work at the time but ran into two other school parents, by which time the story had grown to include four confirmed and two probable cases.

The thing is, I can't find a single column inch about this on the Journal's website, or on the TV. Has anyone else in town heard about this? If so, please let me know.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Swine Flu and Communion Wine

If nothing else the swine flu is sure creating memories for YaYa. It's the weekend of her First Communion (a mere 11 hours away now) and it's affected a score of things in Milwaukee. Knowing most kids, in twenty years time the only thing she'll remember about this weekend is that it coincided with the outbreak.

The most stunning example of its impact was at my niece's Communion Mass today. Before it began the Priest announced that, following 'suggestions' from the State and Archdiocese, the communal wine would not be offered at Mass. This was the First Communion day for dozens of kids, and they would not be receiving the wine.

Man, the shock hit my chest like a sledgehammer. I'm serious. Forgetting even the theological implications, its a massive blow to the protocol and tradition of the event. I can't come up with an equivalent example. A marriage ceremony where the exchange of rings is banned? An inauguration where the swearing-in is prohibited? A baseball game where the home team doesn't get a chance to win it in the ninth?

I'll give the Priest credit. He was a witty and charming man, and he denounced this all as paranoia. So he presented an option: the congregation wouldn't be offered the wine, but the kids receiving their First Communion would have the opportunity if the parents so chose. I don't know how many parent's vetoed it, but I'm thinking the number was zero.

Anyhow, I have no idea how YaYa's church will handle it tomorrow. We'll have to see.

* there are some nice pics from today and I'll *try* to post them at a later date*

After Mass we ditched three of the kids and took YaYa out alone to finish off some last minute Communion details. We also had some fun. We went to a rummage sale at a Methodist Church, where a lady presented YaYa with a free cross necklace in honor of her upcoming event (and I picked up a copy of Robert Penn Warren's Remember the Alamo! for less than a quarter). We also hit an estate sale, got myself a haircut, stopped at Half Price Books, and went out to eat, at YaYa's choice, at Carrabas Italian Restaurant (not a great meal for the $; we won't be going back.)

I did ask her at the bookstore if her love of books was genuine or just a means of identifying with me. She looked at me like I was crazy and pleaded with me to buy her a chapter book.

She thrives when she has alone time with us and it was a blast.

Anyhow, time for bed. Some more swine flu notes for posterity:

* Today the number of cases here has jumped from five on Friday to twenty-seven(probable) cases.

* A handful of public schools have closed, but MPS is warning all parents to make alternate arrangements for Monday. The rumor is all public schools will be closed until further notice, and the Catholic versions will follow suit.

* Some of the south-side Catholic schools with overwhelmingly Hispanic student bodies, including my old elementary school, have shut their doors.

* On Thursday night LuLu and YaYa's school was completely disinfected and sprayed down, whatever that means.

* At work a manager wasted an entire day disinfecting our computers and keyboards. This is a pointless task, given we're always mixing with the public and would have no real hope of avoiding it if it strolled through the door.

* I cleared my throat at work and a customer backed away saying "Are you sure you're not ill?". I think she was joking.

* A local store has a sign on their door saying "Avoid the swine flu - buy hand sanitizers here!"

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu Forces Closure of Milwaukee Public Schools



A friend of ours just got an automated call from MPS saying her daughter's school was "closed until further notice". According to the Milwaukee Journal, four schools have been ordered closed because of swine flu, with two confirmed cases in the city and a third in the state. Details are sketchy, but I'm sure it will headline the paper tomorrow.

I don't think that the swine flu is the end of the world, or a guaranteed repeat of the 1918 Influenza horror, but it's going to cause some damage before it's through. Not only is there a case at a school down the block from my house, but at the school our friend's daughter attends. Lovely news. The stomach illness that took me, Lisa, and YaYa out for part of last week was awful enough; I can't imagine getting hit by that strain.

Let's hope for the best, and a quick recovery for those stricken with the illness.