The Wedding March

Still a bit apprehensive from last week's Church debacle, Joe and I decided to visit St. Patrick's Old Cathedral. I wasn't feeling up to it but Joey convinced me to get my lazy ass off the couch and do something. So we did.

And I'm glad we did because if I was looking for some sort of big, bold sign, I got something akin to a big, flashing, arrow that says, "You're Here". My sign was a 158-year old grand pipe organ that started playing Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" as soon as I started walking down the aisle.

Well, the organ obviously wasn't playing by itself, the organist happened to be up there practicing. But I thought for a second that the music was all in my head, like in movies when the two lovers run towards each other in slow motion and then a cheesy Barbra Streisand song starts to play in the background.

So I turned around and saw Joe laughing. He heard it too! Well, of course he did. Everybody did because it wasn't all in my head. It was real. Joe goes, "You should practice your walk!" And so I kept walking. This is how everything should feel--certain and destined.

When I reached the end of the aisle, I sat down with a silly grin on my face, thinking, "If that wasn't the sign, that gut feeling I was looking for, then I have a whole 'nuther issue I should be worrying about."

Fun Facts About St. Patrick and St. Patrick's Old Cathedral (But not as fun as St. Lucy's)

1. It is the oldest cathedral in NYC and was elevated to the status of Basilica after celebrating it's 200th birthday in 2009.
2. The pipe organ is still fully functional at 158 years old.
3. St. Patrick's parents were Romans and he grew up in Scotland.
4. As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave. 
5. The Baptism scene in The Godfather was filmed here, as was the scene in The Godfather, Part III in which Michael Corleone receives an honor from the church. 
6. And, the first time I visited this Church, which was yesterday, the organist was playing Mendelssohn's "Wedding March".