Tuesday night (the 14th) was the final for my non-linear control systems class. However, my class was not finished. I still had a written report due on Saturday. I had to do well on the report, because the presentation I gave the week before was a complete disaster. So after I got home from the final around 10:30, I had to install MATLAB on my laptop and collect all the files and papers I needed. Then I had to pack for a six day trip. I got around an hour and a half of sleep before leaving for a 6:30 flight out of LAX.
When we got to Cleveland, we visited my dad's cousin and his family. They live around 20 miles west of the city. Then my grandparents drove in (they live about 3 hours away) and visited with us until the next morning. That was all my dad's family.
Later on Thursday we had dinner with my mom's cousin, whose son was being being ordained. I enjoyed the special of wild boar at the Blue Canyon Restaurant.
On Friday more family stated rolling in. There were people from Georgia, Wisconsin, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I saw a few of these people last year because a few of them had a small reunion in New York (which happened to be the same weekend I was there). Otherwise, the last time I saw all of them was at Annie's wedding in Detroit in 2011. All 28 of us had dinner at the family's house. That night I got less than two hours of sleep, since I was having trouble with the graphs for my project.
The ordination was on Saturday morning. Complicating things was the Cleveland 5k which was being run that morning that we had to pass through. Five people were being ordained priests for the diocese. The front half of the church had assigned seating and required tickets. I was in row ten with some assorted cousins.
There were over 100 priests there. I put a big collection of pictures on Facebook. The main points of the ordination were promising obedience to the bishop and laying of hands on the ordained.
After the ordination, the family had a reception at The Harp Restaurant. I enjoyed a crab cake burger. One of my cousins had a vegetarian boxty with bacon added.
Then we went back to the hotel. I finished and submitted the report for my electrical engineering project. I think there was divine intervention to help me get the graphs correct. After watching the Preakness Stakes on TV, we headed off to the reception. It was in a church hall; the nicest church hall I have ever been in. The reception was a lot like a wedding reception, except there was no bride.
I decided I should take pictures will all of my cousins. I have no idea when I will see them again. So my project at the reception and the following day was to get pictures with all dozen of them.
On Sunday there was a brunch at the family's house. They had a great breakfast casserole, waffles with real strawberries, bagels, and other good things. More family drove in just for the brunch.
That afternoon was Fr. Ryan's first mass. He gave a great homily for Pentecost. Fr. Ryan talked about how everyone must respond to the call of the Holy Spirit. He made some good jokes and managed to pick on his little sister. I had a good seat for the first mass. The two people in front of my are Fr. Ryan's parents.
The church was packed with people. He did a lot of work with the teens in the parish and they were excited to be there for his mass. I am glad he did a good job saying mass. It would be embarrassing if I was related to a mass murderer. Below is the bulletin and program for his first mass.
Afterwards the parish had a reception for him. There were a lot of people at the reception, around 400. They had a great spread of food. There were beef sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches, cake, cookies baked by parishioners, and a lot of good stuff I cannot remember. This is us with Fr. Ryan and his immediate family.
The entire weekend had more events than a wedding. I also got some nice swag. The rosaries were made by people at Fr. Ryan's parish. Fr. Ryan wrote a litany just for his family and friends.
On Monday most people went home. However, we stayed an extra day and got to spend some more time with our relatives who lived there.
Differences in Church
From the way people acted and things looked, it seems people take church more seriously there. The reception after the first mass was bigger than anything I would expect at a parish in California. Also, it was filled with people. In California, when there was a goodbye reception for a deacon or a celebration for a priest's anniversary of ordination, there were only a handful of people at that celebration in California. There is also the facilities themselves. The parish hall for the Saturday reception blew away any church hall I have seen in California. The church for the first mass was newer and had a bigger office and meeting space (or at least a vastly superior layout) than what I am used to here. At the sign of peace, everyone shakes hands. Whereas in California, people who know each other hug.
More Sadness
Everything above is how I want to remember it and tell everyone. There were a lot of difficult things on the trip. We almost missed our flight out of LAX because other people in my family were not ready. I learned how pathetic my dad and brother really are. Some days they spent more time napping during the day than I got in sleep the night before. My brother can't even take my grandma to breakfast with him in the hotel lobby. My dad cares more about looking at his computer than getting things ready so we can be on time to where we go. I was close to making a huge scene at the reception and yelling at them how they are all failures. Instead, I decided I was not going to let them ruin my evening. Then I got the idea of getting a picture with all of my cousins. Also, my grandma's memory loss is getting bad. She did not remember my dad's parents. She has known them for 40 years.
On a happier note, here is my with my cousin Fr. Ryan.
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