I wish I was like you, easily amused

Usually when I’m in a strange mood like I have been the past week, I like to sit in my room and just listen to music.  Music has a certain intangible quality to it that just relaxes me.  Let’s me drift away from the real world for a little bit and not have anything running through my head.  A couple weeks back my roommate Meagan rediscovered my Ray LaMontagne Trouble disc on our way back from a winetasting.  Well, actually, my friend Jeremy let me borrow it a year and a half ago as collateral while he searched for my Elliott Smith CD, which I still haven’t gotten back (If you don’t know who Ray LaMontagne is, think a little quicker paced male Norah Jones with a raspy voice, only better because, you know, he’s a man. I kid, I kid.  But he is better).  I listened to it for a month straight when I first got it, then went onto the next album and forgot that I had it until couple weeks ago.  I highly suggest you give Ray a listen.  But I digress…

As incredible as music can be.  Locking myself in my room doesn’t always work.  You can only drift away so far before you come falling back to everything going on around you.  Also, I’m a fidgety person.  Thumb twiddler.  Can’t sit through a movie without changing my sitting position at least 10 times.  I needed a change of scenery.

Catholic University is a five minute drive from my house.  The Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is right next to Catholic University (the Catholic church’s answer to the Episcopalian National Cathedral?).  It isn’t nearly as impressive and awe inspiring as the National Cathedral, but it is a beautiful piece of architecture.  Plus, there aren’t nearly the number of tourists on a Saturday afternoon (read: it is much quieter).  I sat in the near empty sanctuary for almost an hour clearing my head and not thinking about a single thing.

I’m not Catholic and I gave up going to church some time ago.  I make it to church on Christmas, but I don’t think I’ve even been to Easter services the last couple years.  Sitting in a church by myself is not something I do.  Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever done it before.  I’m not sure what compelled me to even go.  But there was something about sitting in that sanctuary that put me at peace, even if just for an hour.  I don’t think just any church sanctuary would have done the trick.  There was just something about this one.  I can’t recall a single thing that happened in that one hour other than sitting there staring at, I don’t even know what.  The world just kinded of passed me by.  All of a sudden I noticed a grandmother kneeling down a few rows in front of me to say a prayer.  It was time for me to go.

Maybe this was just a one time thing.  Maybe it will become some sort of a semi-regular thing.  Who knows.  But for an hour everything was okay.