Today we attended an awards ceremony at the University of St Thomas in Houston. It was to recognize students in grades 3 thru 12 for their entries in a writing contest the university sponsored for all of the Catholic schools in our diocese. Our daughter won an award in her grade categoryt. It was a very nice ceremony but also very long.

When we arrived, we parked a few blocks away from the university, right beside the Rothko chapel. Now call me crazy and uncultured, but I've never "gotten" the Rothko chapel. I've been there a few times. It is soothing and meditative. It is also filled with a bunch of world-class paintings by Mark Rothko. These are a series of large canvases painted black. That's it. Plain black. Something basically anyone at all could paint. But the obelisk out front is fairly interesting.

Moving on now.

We walked the few blocks to the university. It was really chilly outside. Normally when our weather forecast here says 60-something degrees and sunny, you should dress for warm weather because it usually gets fairly warm in Houston even in the winter. But not today. So I was freezing!

The ceremony and mass lasted three hours. We sat in folding chairs that were jammed up against each other. I was claustrophic the entire time. I am not normally claustrophobic at all. But today I was and it made me really grouchy and, well, short-tempered. I also couldn't get my purse to sit right in front of my folding chair and I finally leaned over and jammed it sideways under the bottom rung of the chair so I wouldn't trip over it with all the standing up and sitting down that we were doing. Then I tried to somehow arrange the paperwork they gave us, my camera with the huge lense, and my cashmere wrap (in case of frigid temps), under the seat.

By the time the three hours was up, my claustrophobia had gotten the best of me and I couldn't wait to get out of there and walk the three frigid blocks back to the car parked by that damn boring Rothko chapel.

And now I am off to take a bubble bath and recover from my uncharacteristic grouchiness.

The End