The devil was cast out and it was FM!

Last weekend was a big weekend, Little Man was baptized therefore cleansing his soul and casting the devil out.

Sil had a bunch of relatives trek down from Connecticut for the big event. Her cousin Kate is one of my favorite people and always has a funny story of the odd things that happen to her.

My favorite story was Kate’s trip to the post office when she was living in Long Island several years ago. Sil’s brother, The Officer, is often overseas due to his job in the military. Kate had gone to mail him a package and at the time she was about 8 months pregnant with her third child.

She got to the counter and as the clerk was processing her package she put two and two together, or so she thought, and suddenly was loudly saying “Ohh maa Gawd!”

Kate was startled and didn’t understand what was going on. Until the clerk continued (in a thick Long Island accent), “He’s gonna miss the berth of the baby. Ohh maa Gawd!”

Kate didn’t know how to get a word in to even stop her as the clerk continued, “I’m gonna pray fer you. I’m gonna pray fer you and I’m gonna pray fer da baaby and I’m pray fer da faather. Ohhh maa Gawd!”

She then hollered to another clerk, “SYLVIA! Look at dis. She’s pregnant and da faather is fightin fer our country and gonna miss the berth. I’m gonna pray fer dem. I’m gonna pray fer hur and I’m gonna pray fer da baby and I’m gonna pray fer da faather. Ohh maa Gawd!”

Then Sylvia chimed in and pointing to Kate and her belly and the package, “Ohh maa Gawd! Don’t worry dear I’m gonna pray fer you too! I’m gonna pray fer you and I’m gonna pray fer da baby and I’m gonna pray fer da faather. It's gonna be OK.”

At this point if Kate could even get a word in she was afraid to burst their bubble. She knew immediately she could never go in that post office again let alone send any packages to The Officer from there.

One of the best things about Kate’s stories is how animated she gets and her impersonations of these Long Island women. She had us in stitches for most of the weekend.

Sunday morning was the baptism and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in attendance for a baptism. We were all a little surprised how the priest explained one set of prayers which are prayers used in exorcisms. He said, “Exorcisms do happen and baptism is the first step in protecting our souls from the devil. It’s very likely a baby could have the devil in him so we need to cast it out as part of the baptism.” I could see Sil and Brotha Man look at each other a little surprised and Brotha Man even mentioned it later when we were all back at The Folks for a bite to eat.

After the baptism we all were hanging around in the church chatting before heading to The Folks. I was talking to Cousin P and his parents, Uncle P and Aunt D. Cousin P was telling us about this google text thing where you send a question to 466453, e.g. for directions or movie times, and you get a text back with the information. He had used it the night before to get directions and was glad he had it. He then said, “It was FM!”

Uncle P and Aunt D were nodding in agreement and turned to me and said, “Do you know what FM is?”

“Nope.”

Aunt D tells me when she first met Uncle P she had sold him a computer. This was way back when computers used those 8 inch floppy drives and you had to format them before you could use them. So Aunt D types in FM at the prompt and Uncle P says, “What does FM stand for?”

Aunt D replied, “Fucking Magic!”

Uncle P and Aunt D soon started dating, got married and had three kids that are now grown… FM!

FM has become a staple phrase in their family and those around them. This is an easy phrase to adopt and can fit so many situations, but maybe we shouldn't be using this language in the house of God. We all looked around to see if anyone had overheard our conversation and we moved on out of there.

Eileen was complaining Friday at the HH that I need to post more often and she has been looking for a new post all week. See Eileen I have finally posted. FM!