Step 1 was finding a location. Immediately after the announcement everything was "sold out" online. I started looking at AirBNB and almost immediately folks were listing their apartments at $200-$2000/night. I was able to locate a Quaker retreat center nearby who was going to save rooms for us for about $500 for the weekend but that was still a bit much (even though mom/dad were ready to help us out as our early Christmas gift!) None of the Catholic Mamas live in Philadelphia, but pretty early on in the discussions my friend Lindsay (who has visited Michigan often, as her husband's family still resides here) who is very near in Delaware invited those who planned to pilgrimage to stay. Perfect. Housing. Check!
Step 2 was getting SEPTA passes so we could take the train from Wilmington, DE (near her house in Newark, DE). The day they were supposed to go on sale, the website crashed with 54,000 hits by 9am. Like woah. So instead they introduced a lottery. Not wanting to trust my luck, I enlisted the help of co-workers and pretty much everyone in my email address book to enter the lottery on our behalf. You could buy 10 passes at a time. Within an hour on lottery day, a co-worker IMed me to say she had been picked! Transportation? Check!
Step 3 was developing a plan for driving. Mike decided kind of early on that he didn't want to go so that meant I'd be the primary driver and with our big Skateathon fundraiser at SSA the day we'd need to leave I knew I wouldn't leave until later in the day on Friday so I contacted my friend, Jess, in Pittsburgh, who used to work at EMU to see if we could stay with her as a half-way point. So what does a single, lesbian, Jewish, liberal living on her own except for her dog-kid, Pita, say to hosting her mom-friend driving her PROLIFE van full of Catholics on pilgrimage to the Pope? To quote my Facebook note dated February 2015: HI I PUT THIS IN MY CALENDAR. COME SEE ME. K BYE.
God bless Jess forever!! I had a plan! So between February and all summer I pretty much did nothing except move on with life until Step 2 above which was a intense flurry of activity in late July.
September was pretty much the busiest month ever. School started, EMU started, Skateathon fundraising started. Paulina, Mateo and Peter all got sick. I tried to plan ahead and not drop any balls. Bought some Pope shirts, some portable chargers for our iPhone 4's that don't have the best battery life (because who wants their phone to go dead in an unfamiliar city with a million people just before you're ready to take that coveted Pope picture?!?!?), mostly I just did mental preparation though and tried to keep up with everyday life!
The week of September 21 I pretty much never had a free moment. Between work and classes and Skateathon fundraising and mental preparations and trips to the store to ensure we had provisions and no balls got dropped, I don't think I even slept more than 4-5 hours every night. Thursday night I know I only got about 3 hours of sleep. I was just so wound up! Friday morning I furiously added up Skateathon totals and we ended up raising almost $10,000 more than our school goal! The first of many blessings! During that day Mike traded cars with me because the van we planned to take had low tire pressure, while Maria and I juggled kids, he took it in for us. We rushed home and I packed the cooler and last minute items we hadn't been able to pack the night before. I had hoped to be on the road by 1pm...we were off before 2!
Me, 5 teenagers, Mikey and Paulina and our van packed to the hilt!
Our first leg of the journey was pretty seamless, kept to the speed limit to avoid making Ohio richer, stopped for a break to stretch on the other side of the state, not quite in Pennsylvania. Had a thrilling dinner of 20 minute McDonalds and got back "on the road again." I couldn't have asked for a better road trip crew. No complaints, no fights, hardly even much goofy girl giggling! Paulina napped and was pretty chill. We were off to a great start.
And then...the GPS just stopped working. So weird! I'd never had this happen before and who knows why it did!
No matter! I had my printed directions and my phone (although not as convenient) so on we drove. Welcome to Pennsylvania! Now...give us money. Thankfully my friend had warned me about the tolls or I think the $40+ dollars I spent getting through Ohio and Pennsylvania might have given me sticker shock! I was bummed I missed getting a good look around Pittsburgh as all the bridges and the landscape of the buildings even was so cool, but I had to concentrate on the narrow roads and reading the silly super small iPhone screen directions.
We made it safely to Jess' house, the kids picked their spots and set up their air mattresses and Jess and I were able to just enjoy each other's company for a few hours before bed. Her dog, Pita, was so excited to see Paulina but knocked her over a few times so that friendship didn't last long, but Mikey was big enough to take it and Pita just went crazy for him!
Mikey did get a little red in the eyes and by morning they were pretty puffy, but allergic or whatever he was, he still enjoyed Pita's company and was recovered just fine the next day and we left Jess' house shortly after she did about 8:30am to head on the next leg of our journey.
We didn't get many pictures, but we drove through lots of mountains, several tunnels and the most picturesque Pennsylvania Dutch country you can imagine!
We watched I Love Lucy, prayed the Rosary and finally made it into Delaware (without so much as a sign for fanfare to let us know we had arrived!) and to my friend Lindsay's by about 2pm. Patty, my friend from Syracuse, New York and her crew of 6 kids + 1 were there to greet us too!
Patty, Lindsay and I were able to chat and enjoy each other's company while Patty's Mikey (8), Matthew (6) and Sean (11) played with Lindsay's Albert (3) and my Mikey (9) and all the teens: my Isabel (13), Carmen (14) and Maria (16), my road trip buddies (and dear friend Amy's kids), Owen (17) and Katie (15) got to know Patty's older kids, Dan (14) and Mary (15) and her friend Eve.
Then Lindsay's husband, Paul, arrived with the wood he and their other boys had picked up so that added Henry, Karl and Victor (I could kick myself for not getting pictures with them too!) while baby Fritz slept on. Paul had ALL the younger boys eager help and they managed to split all this wood before dinner!
Though in reality this is what Paulina, Fritz (not pictured) and the teens did while the younger boys did all the manual labor: Social Media and a really loud, intense game of Spoons!
Lindsay then treated us all to a lovely, laid back dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and veggies from their garden while Paul and I enjoyed the Michigan IPA I brought and we all continued to enjoy each other's company and the lovely evening that was pretty much the perfect temperature with no bugs or rain! The pack of wild boys played cops and robbers and climbed and ran and generally did what boys do! Such a blessing!
Knowing we had a 5:30am-8:30am window to catch our train the next day and the station was still a half hour drive away, we headed to bed pretty early. I'd say by 10-11ish we were all tucked away in our various rooms, sleeping in our clothes, ready to awake bright and early Sunday morning for our trek into Philly.
Sunday's weather had gone back and forth, but it looked like no rain Sunday morning, so we headed out with just our back packs and a few snacks. On the train we made some signs I had neglected to have the kids work on the night before!
We basically had the whole train car to ourselves! It was great. Once we de-boarded at the 30th Street Station, we were greeted by helpful volunteers and we crossed the river into downtown Philadelphia to begin our great adventure!
See that white tent waaaaaaaaaaaay down there? That's the security check point. By the time our friends tried to come into the city about 4-5 hours later, the line stretched all the way out to where this picture was taken from...getting into the city as early as we did was definitely the key to success!
After a little discussion and seeing what 20th Street already looked like - the area closest to the ticketed area for Mass (you had to have an official Papal Mass ticket to be in the area from 20th Street up to Eakins Oval where the altar was set), we decided to make this spot in front of the Cathedral our own. You couldn't cross the street here, and had to walk down and around, but this was the view at 8:30amish. Very roomy, right? We sat under the flag of Brazil, banking on the good vibes from the Cathedral and the South American country (even if not quite the right one ;)
My "plan" originally had been that some of us could keep our space staked out and others could adventure out into the city a bit, but it ended up that we really pretty much stuck to our space - and we had to or it would have been quickly taken over! The kids left in small groups to check out the Cathedral, a small food venue and the "official" Papal Visit street stand. Owen was able to attend 9:30 Mass and I was able to get in to the Cathedral for both confession and to see the relics of John Paul II, Zelli and Louise Martin (St Therese's parents, just canonized) as well as those of Giana Molla (whose daughter - the "living relic" was present at the WMOF!)
Just before I snuck off for my little trip, a unique kid named Mark (on the spectrum) decided that our area was his own as well and so we had some interesting conversations with him while we worked to defend our space :)
This is Mark.
Starting to get crowded out on both sides now!
As you can see, our "space" got busier and busier and smaller and smaller as the day wore on :) And essentially we spent 7 hours (for the most part) standing in the same spot to wait for the Papal Parade to come by. Thank goodness for Eve who spent A LOT of time watching and walking with Paulina so I could guard and stay in our space. She also ended up falling asleep with her and it was just a beautiful thing to watch that filled my heart - two strangers in a crowd of 1 million in a tender embrace. What a treasure!
It was our hope to show off all our signs and hold out our babies from our coveted spot along the street, but as it got later and later and the crowds pushed in more and more we were unable to hold the signs up and I was actually pretty concerned that he might not have time to make it past our view point. Then this happened...
About 200ish priests de-boarded the busses and got a huge round of applause as they stepped off to walk into the Cathedral. Paulina received many blessings, as did all the kids. It was quite moving!
This was a little before 3pm...and the crowd tried the wave and miscellaneous cheers to keep each other motivated while we watched and worried...would he come? Suddenly from across the street we heard a lady who had been watching the live stream say, his motorcade is coming! It's coming!
He drove past us and into the drive in front of the Cathedral (do you see him?)...oh no! Had we set ourselves up on the wrong side? The last minute newcomers who had been closing in on us ran to the otherside, but our patience and perseverance paid off!
Though it passed by rather quickly, there he was in front of our very eyes! A stone's throw away - the crowd chanted "Kiss that baby!" and "Bless that baby!" and the baby next to us as well as Paulina did get a wave and blessing but alas it was 3:30 by this time and with a 4pm Mass, he couldn't be late I suppose!
So Mikey's dream of a selfie with the Pope and Isabel's request on her sign that he be her confirmation sponsor and ALL of our hope that Paulina would be one of those lucky kissed babies didn't happen, but THIS DID!
A picture taken by my road tripping partner and co-pilot, Owen Ekblad, doesn't it appear he is looking RIGHT AT YOU!?!?!?!?
You can call me crazy, but the 590 miles to get there. The getting up at 5am. The 8 hours of standing and guarding that gate were worth it. It was a palpable moment of joy, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for myself, my kids and my friends in the city of brotherly love, where the country I live in was essentially birthed into existence, myself, MY CHILDREN had an encounter with the Vicar of Christ. UNBELIEVABLE!
And then Mass with almost 1 million people. The crowds were so thick, but even with thousands of people, and in the outdoors in front of essentially a trash heap, I got to be at Mass said by the Holy Father himself! And everyone was reverent, everyone was joyful, well, everyone except Paulina :) If you follow Carmen's gaze, you can just see her in the corner of the photo digging in the dirt of the Cathedral gardens. She was filthy! Pretty much all she wanted to do was throw garbage away, eat old food off the ground or dig in the dirt. That's my holy, blessed baby!
Patty, Dan, Eve, Carmen, Isabel, Maria, Katie, Mary, Owen
Matthew, Michael, Mikey, Sean and Paulina and I
I had hopes to wait out the crowds, but we had all essentially fasted all day so we were all pretty starving. We decided to get out of the city and get to the SEPTA and try to find a place to eat AS SOON AS WE GOT OFF THE TRAIN! I have to say the only disappointing part of the trip/experience was seeing all the trash that was left behind in the city. Our side of the street wasn't bad, but walking through Logan Park was ridiculous. I would say it took us a good hour to get out of the city too. The National Guard and police and volunteers were great though - very friendly and a very orderly exit. We even had a great group playing music for the last part of our journey that definitely buoyed our spirits as worn and weary pilgrims for the day.
quick shot with Officer Rivera - who kept us 'in the know'
I had already decided that the next day I hoped to be on the road by 9am but I wouldn't set any alarms or anything. Paulina and I got up around 7am and everyone else got up pretty soon after. Lindsay had hot coffee and oatmeal with bananas and raisins and we got to recap the prior day with her and Paul before he headed off to work. And the whole crew worked together to get everything packed up and out the door and into the car and before I knew it we were ready to go!
The drive home was overcast and slightly rainy on and off. We took a different way home and got to see Baltimore and some of Maryland and paid a whole lot less to the great state of Pennsylvania in tolls ;)
We got our daily road trip Rosary in, watched some more I Love Lucy, played some fun alphabet games and made great time and my road trippers continued their track record of being my favorite car full of people ever for 10!hours!in!a!row! Nonetheless, what a welcome sight this was...
and hey! look the GPS decided to start working again...weird old thing...
After dropping the Ekblad kids off, gassing up and buying a 6-pack, we got home, finished homework, cleaned up and all got to bed at a decent time. It took me awhile to fall asleep after being hyper-caffeinated for the drive home and trying to digest all the good things that happened over the whirlwind weekend. But I type this back in the daily grind...never to forget the last weekend in September 2015 and what a blessed life I have been given. Enjoy Katie's recap video below and be sure to check back for (hopefully) updates with Owen's much better pictures (hint, hint if you're reading this dude)