I can still remember sitting in a pew at church.  It smelled like old wood rubbed by many hands over the years.  The priest was Father Thomas and I had a girl’s crush on him.  I sweated as I reviewed my catechism classes on how to make a confession.  I racked my brain for something to say.

When it was my turn to go into the confessional my knees knocked together.   I was terrified.  When the screened window slid open I could see Father Thomas in profile.  I started with “Honor thy father and mother”  I said, “I did not honor my father and mother.”  He asked me to explain and I did my best:  “I love my dad and mom. What does “honor” mean?  He stifled a chuckle.  I continued, “I may have committed adultery.”

To me, adultery meant that I had misbehaved while with an adult.  I had done that by not getting permission to walk around the block one day.  I also picked flowers from my mom’s precious and perfect garden.  Then I recalled that I had killed an ant by stepping on it.

Then I remembered that I had stolen a pack of gum while with my dad at the corner store as he bought cigarettes and beer.  “I had to go back to the store and return the gum and say that I was sorry because my dad saw me steal it.”

I then pretty much dried up.  The rest of the Ten Commandments had words in each that I could not recall what they meant. I had finished confessing and I could hear Father Thomas’s struggle to keep from laughing out loud.  He stifled the laughter and made his voice stern.  “My child, your penance is to say one “Hail Mary”.

I still say a “Hail Mary” before I go to sleep each night.