St. Joseph of Cupertino

This weekend I'm in Glastonbury, Connecticut, studying, filling out my medical school applications and visiting my beau - multi-tasking in action.  So I call my parents constantly for moral support because I realize it is not my will nor theirs that I even pursue medical school - I believe it is the will of an almighty karma/ dharma I can't seem to shift even though I meditate and sing most of the time I am supposedly studying.  But my parents are very supportive, nonetheless and listen to me gripe, laugh, tell them how awful it all is and then find myself asking questions about how many glands are there really in the prostate?

My mom always answers with things like, "You know how many glands there are in the prostate.  The glands are responsible for secreting seminal fluid..." and having me draw the conclusion.  :-)  This makes me laugh.  She's very good that way, my mom, she really knows how to set me off on a search for an answer.  And I'm such a sucka, really.  I am.  The correct answer is "many."

And well, admittedly, there is something so beautiful about studying the dehydration of alcohol and I realize that I do love seeing halogenation in action.  And what about electrophiles?  Electrophiles are cool - in my notes, I have "I heart electrons" next to my definition of electrophiles.  Delectable.  We don't heart free radicals, nay, we heart electrons, me and the electrophiles. 

Anywhoooo, my mom, the encyclopedia of all things Catholic and Pathology, told me today as I hinted that perhaps the $1800 I paid for my MCAT review was ahem, high, and could there be a, well, a donation for all this money.  Of course I didn't really ask my mom for money, that would be beneath me at the ripe old age of 34, I'm just making her aware that I am indeed, spending money so that she can have a running balance somewhere in the infinite annals of her ever-expanding mind.  And of course, my very knowledgeable mom tells me that I shouldn't ask her - really, I know I shouldn't - my mom is 60 and has endless amounts of energy when she feels like having energy - but she needs to move towards having not me to spend money on and just herself and my Daddy-o.  My mom, because she is brilliant, says I should really ask God for everything.

Which is really why my parents are so brilliant for all of my very mythical/mystical family's similar lack of knowledge on anything practical in the world, "how do I keep track of my keys?"   They are brilliant because when all is at a loss for answers, like who the heck is paying for medical school?  They tell me to go to God.

And more precisely, my mom told me as I simultaneously whined to her, made fun of and felt totally terrified in the face of the almighty MCAT, that I should pray to St. Joseph of Cupertino, the patron saint of passing examinations. 

I have loved St. Joseph of Cupertino ever since my mom and sis came back from their wild month-long foray into Catholic pilgrimage landia and I got to absorb everything they saw vicariously.  And both of them, I could tell, got a lot from visiting St. Joseph of Cupertino's church in Italy.  I love St. Joseph because he was so ecstatic, he levitated.  I'm a sucka for levitating saints who will help me pass my examination...well, being a sort of "type a" personality, of course, I don't want to merely "pass," I'd like to have amazing scores. 

Svaha. 

Click here for St. Joseph prayers:
http://www.nagpur.itgo.com/ajay/cupertino.htm

And I've just published this in my newspapers-blog.  So I've fulfilled my end o' the bargain, St. Joseph, :-)  Catholics always love the equal exchange for prayers.  "Okay, darlin, I'll help you pass your exam if you tell people about me.  How 'bout it?"

I think St. Joe is a little beyond this kind of bargain...but hey, why not try to fulfill it as best I can anyway.