The rest of the story

Written by Beth:

Jenny's right, it was QUITE the interesting trip. What were we thinking??

First of all, we went to 5:30 mass on Saturday, then we all went to Cancun (a delicious Mexican restaurant) and I'm pretty sure we each had a few Margaritas. We should have each had a few more before that bus trip. We left around 9pm. Jenny and I sat together and somehow Donna finagled her own seat right in front of us. On the other side, were several pairs of obnoxious teenagers playing cards and being extremely loud while we were trying to sleep. Jenny does describe the penguin hat pretty well! This girl was an adult, and obviously single. Sometimes the pro life events attract some strange people (I know, what does that say about US, right?) but anyway they were all congregated on this particular bus, which we were on for 12 hours overnight.

Jenny and I were good friends before this, but this trip really bonded us for life :) We made up a great song, including several verses to the tune of "My Favorite Things." Only our version was "These are a few of our Least Favorite Things." Some things included, "Being on a bus," "teenagers," etc.... and some other things we can't mention HERE.

Our room conditions were quite interesting. First of all some poor girl got paired with Jenny, Donna and me. We kept her laughing though, I think we livened up the trip for her! It was SO hot in there we slept with the windows open when it was 10 degrees outside. Hey WARD, it's the BEAV!!!!

The actual March pretty much made it worth the rest of the craziness. We went to a rally before the March, where President Bush called in and gave a statement. Also there were several representatives who spoke. Terri Schiavo's parents got up there and told her story. She was still alive at that time, and they were fighting for her life. Some people sang "Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow" acapella, and women walked up to the stage holding signs that said, "I regret my abortion." I thought that was so powerful. We marched through the streets of Washington DC in support of life. (We did get chased away by an armed guard while trying to use the porta potty. I've never had to go so bad in my WHOLE LIFE.)

Also, the mass at the Basilica was amazing. There were SO many people there, we had to sit on the floor in the hallway. The music was beautiful, the homily was wonderful, we all went to Confession. Jenny went TWICE. Yep, you heard that right. Jenny bought Donna and I St. Gerard medals, because we were both praying to conceive. We got Jenny a St. Rita medal, since she's the patron saint of difficult causes :) By the way, Donna found out two weeks later she was pregnant with her son, and about a year and a half later I got pregnant with Madeleine. God is good!

It might have been quite the crazy trip, but I'm SO glad I went. I bonded with some of my best friends and we have some great memories.

Oh, and I'm definitely going to keep the penguins coming for Jenny :)