Has anyone ever been interrupted in the middle of a silent prayer to The Lord before eating, and the interruption snowballed into an attention-getting fiasco?
True story: When my parents were alive, the three of us would periodically visit one of my cousin's homes for a family get-together. On this particular day, we were celebrating my uncle's birthday. Numerous family members were there; I estimated 30 people total. It was like a mini-family reunion of sorts.
When we sat down at our various tables with our plates filled with delicious food, I noticed that two more cousins sitting nearby had bowed their heads in silent prayer. I started thinking about how I should thank God more often for all the good that had been blessed upon me. I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and started to pray.
Mom was the type of person that if she noticed something out of the ordinary or an unusual behavioral change, she'd immediately inquire as to why and would not let go until she got a full explanation. My mother noticed what I had done and started asking me if I was all right. "I'm fine, Mom." I responded quietly.
"Michelle, what's wrong?" She asked again.
Trying to keep my actions from becoming an issue, I said, "Mom, I was praying, okay?" I was hoping she'd realize that her habit of pressing the issue was about to embarrass me in front of our family members.
Dad (who was hard of hearing) noticed the concern and urgency in Mom's voice pattern and inquired, "What's going on?"
By then, I quickly looked around and other family members were starting to turn their heads in my direction to see what was going on. "Nothing, Dad."
"Everything's fine, Lin." Mom answered in her authoritative voice that she used when she wanted to send the message that the subject should be dropped.
Unfazed by my and Mom's responses, he insisted on knowing what was going on. "No, really, what's going on?" he asked in a louder voice.
I don't know what was worse: his insistence on being in the know of the situation or Mom's response. She loudly hissed, "It's private!!" More people were staring at us, wondering what was going on.
I wanted to crawl under the table.
My cousin is a fantasic cook and does a lot of entertaining, but I almost lost my appetite just from the sheer embarrassment of my parents making an issue of my head bowed and my eyes closed. Truth be told, Mom was probably worried that I might have had a silent heart attack and died because she FREQUENTLY badgered me about my weight.
Needless to say, I learned to pray around them with my eyes open.
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