I Am Smitten

My husband loves to brag to friends and coworkers that he has the most low-maintenance wife ever. I never buy anything for myself, wear clothing until it is threadbare, my only accessories are a wedding band and my eyeglasses, I get my hair cut maybe three times a year, drive a 10 year old car and I love to window shop. Well, I have once again outdone myself.

On a recent excursion to a Catholic store in a quest to find Crucifixes for making rosaries with my son's fifth grade class, I stumbled upon something which to another would be quite a bore yet I was elated! The kind man who was working at the store was helping me look through the rosary supplies when he opened a drawer by mistake and I caught a glimpse of some black, brown and white nylon cord. My heart skipped a beat and my mind flashed to my recent discovery of making corded rosaries using only nylon cord and a metal Crucifix. I looked at the wrapper and I saw that the size was #9 and I asked him, "Do you only have nine or do you have thirty-six?" He assured me, "Oh, we have thirty-six right in this drawer." He opened the drawer to reveal more black and white cord. I refused to allow myself this bit of excitement, anticipating a disappointing answer to my next question: "Do you only have those colors?" He opened the next drawer, saying "We have other colors too." I am not kidding you - I broke into a sweat when I saw the spools of color.

The joy of having found the Crucifixes I needed for Friday and some Advent candles for RCIA was suddenly sidelined by the great blessing of having found a $10 500 ft. spool of nylon cord. I made my purchases and could barely focus on the long drive home from the store and continually peeked into the bag at the beautiful, multi-colored cord. When I got home, I quickly made a chaplet just to help me appease my longing. Pleased with the outcome, I measured out a 20' long section of cord to make a full-sized rosary. Have I told you I love making corded rosaries?

When the two men in my life saw the rosary, both were quite impressed with the outcome. At bedtime, our son wanted to pray the rosary while we were waiting for my husband to come home. He clutched in his hand the new rosary while I led the Scriptural Rosary and gradually, his eyes began to close. He whispered that he couldn't say the prayers anymore and I told him to go ahead and close his eyes - I would save the 'Amen' at the end of the prayers for him. Still clutching the new rosary and partially lying on it, he would chime in at the end of each prayer with a hearty, 'AMEN!' We heard Dad come in the door just as we were finishing the Hail Holy Queen and he joined us upstairs, amazed at the new corded rosary. Well, I like to think he was amazed. He used the words, "That is cool!" so I guess that should carry some weight.

I am smitten with my multi-colored, #36 nylon cord. Simple RULES. No more broken pins, lost beads, noisy beads dangling over a pew... By the way, I'd love for others to catch the 'bug for nylon corded rosaries' so if anyone would like help getting started, I'm sure my passion is contagious. Contact me via e-mail or by leaving a comment here.

Gotta go - that spool is calling me.