We tried to do it in October. But a headache cancelled the event. At any other time, a headache would be dismissed as an inconvenience. But in Covid times, a headache could be the start of a super spreader. So we cancelled.

Then we tried to do it in November. But this time Covid really did cancel it along with the sad passing of the minister’s mother. The holidays came and went and Covid became scarier and scarier.

We have to do it soon. The suit isn’t going to fit anymore.

And so we checked dates with the few people we were allowed to have attend, booked the chapel and minister, and prayed the suit would snap shut. This youngest child of mine is finally being baptized.

We aren’t super religious people. We are spiritual in the way we talk of heaven and our angels. We believe God is good and we help our little ones pray for those they love. But we don’t attend weekly services. In recent years with a growing gaggle of children, we haven’t even really been ChrEaster Christians. But Aaron and I both were raised in families where faith was important. I attended Catholic schools my entire life and Aaron attended a Christian school. We’ve talked about finding a church community that fit our family but haven’t really investigated it. I attended a church for a while but found it so wildly different than what I was accustomed to, it felt completely foreign to me…even though it was probably the most authentic church community I had witnessed.

So we still search while instilling the values of our faith from our home. When Aaron and I discussed how we would raise our children, we settled on a generic Christian faith that preached God is good, kindness above all, love is love, and everyone is equal but unique and isn’t that amazing. And although that can co-exist with my Catholic upbringing, in many ways, it is in conflict with it. I’ve always felt that the Catholic Church restricted my social justice spirit in some ways. So I pushed back against raising my children in a community that didn’t lovingly accept that love comes in all sorts of beautiful families. But there was one thing I wouldn’t give up: the tradition of infant baptism with godparents.

We chose to have our children brought into God’s family in the same chapel where we we were married. We choose people to be godparents that live life as examples of who we want our own children to be. We have never chosen a godparent by how often they worship inside a church building but by how often they show kindness with their hearts. And that is why each of our children has three godparents to help light their paths. Each of them has different characteristics we hope our children one day exemplify.

So today, Theo wore the suit made of my wedding gown with a few details from my mom’s and mother-in-law’s gowns. He was welcomed into God’s family…officially since he has always been there. We celebrated with our little family, dads, Theo’s three godparents and his bonus god sister. The sun was bright and we were able to have our photographer capture some lovely memories we will share when they are edited.

Of course, pre-Covid, we would have had a celebration with 75 people and a luncheon afterwards. But today we cautiously removed masks to snap photos that will look not-so-creepy in 25 years. We tentatively hugged our goodbyes and swung through a drive-thru on the way home. After a late lunch out of a paper bag, we all suglled up in my bed to watch a movie. Two of the five of us passed out: the oldest and the youngest of the house. And although it wasn’t the celebration I wanted for Theo, it was just perfect.