today i'm wearing blue

Today I'm wearing blue, not because the Los Angeles Dodgers are playing and I'm a fan of Ryu. Because believe me, we've been watching the games around here and we are cheering on for our fellow Korean brother! Well, the real reason i'm wearing blue today is because I want to show my love and support for a special woman in my life. She knows me better than my own mother and has always loved me yet I have been too oblivious of it for many many years, and has basically changed my life for the better. 

I grew up baptized and raised Catholic. Luckily for me, I had both sets of grandparents that were pretty devoted Catholics. And I mean it when I say devoted.  My dad's dad (my grandpa) became a Catholic out of poverty growing up North Korea. The only school he was able to attend "for free" were the catholic schools run by the nuns. He passed away when I was about eight, I can't remember too many memories of him besides always sitting around smoking his cigarettes and praying the rosary all day long. He would call me into the room so that I can fetch him a fresh pack of cigarettes from the fridge. I'd run over and grab the cold unwrapped box and bring it to him as he sat on the la-z-boy with the rotating beads between his fingers. With one hand he would be taking puffs and the other always holding his rosary. My grandma (my mom's mom) bought me my very first rosary when I was probably five. She would walk into the room and grab the nearest grandchild and make them pray the rosary with her. She was known to always walk in the room and say, "let's pray the rosary!" I remember as a child wanting to be invisible as soon she walked in sometimes because of it.

For the longest time I didn't understand the rosary. Most especially, I didn't understand the need to pray it. Long story short...I had my conversion when I was 16 (that's a story I'll have to share another time!) and shortly after I felt this need to pray and learn the rosary. I had just started this new relationship with God and my faith and I felt that praying the rosary was an essential part in being Catholic. So the night I prayed my first rosary on my own, I fell asleep soon after probably 3 Hail Mary's. I woke up the next morning to the crucifix on my rosary jabbing my side as I rolled over in bed. Ouch and whoops! I gave it another try the next day and the next...and it slowly changed me. I couldn't really explain it then but I knew there was no going back. I started to make sure the rosary was always in my pocket before I left the house and this Lady I was calling the Virgin Mary became more of a life long Mother and friend to me. I would recite my rosary and pray to her and she would make all my prayers perfect before her son Jesus. She would take the deepest desires in my heart and present them to her Son and his Sacred Heart. I was so moved, so grateful and so in love with the Blessed Virgin Mary. I started opening my heart more to her but I realized she already knew them even better than me. She was like my shortcut to Jesus. If I needed anything, I would pray to her because I knew she took my prayers and would directly take them to her son, Jesus. She hooked me up everyone!! The Blessed Virgin Mary is like that person that kind of knows everyone and can hook them up with anything for free. She became my "go to" person for everything and gosh darn it she made sure every single one of my prayers were answered. Sweet! So thats how we became lifelong friends immediately. :) 

So there you have it! Today is feast of the Assumption of Mary (a big Catholic feast day and a Holy day of obligation)! This Woman, who I dearly love is known to wear a blue mantle around her, so blue is the color we associate with her. I want to show my love for her and let her know I'm a pretty big fan of her's today...so you'll most likely see me wearing blue today, going to mass, eating that extra piece of chocolate cake....aaand praying the rosary of course (duh!!). :) 

Ps: I just realized that its my grandpa's birthday today! No wonder he had such a great devotion to the rosary...he was born on a special Mary feast day! Happy birthday grandpa Martin! I love you and thank you for being a model of a rosary loving man to me. 

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