St. Anthony the Wise...

... elbow.

I'm still chuckling over what happened yesterday morning as we were getting ready for Mass. I had my handy-dandy-never-wrinkle dress, but desperately needed the slip to go with it. It wasn't where I thought I remembered putting it, so I asked St. Anthony to help me find it. He's helped me on numerous occasions, and one of his favorite ways seems to be by giving me a clue in my email. Don't ask me why; I think maybe he feels he was born in the wrong generation?

Anyway, I checked the first message in the inbox, and it was one I'd already read. The only part I hadn't read was the signature, so I read it. It was about music. Ok, rush to the side of the bed where the clock radio is, I think. I couldn't find it anywhere. About that time, my son came into the room. "Andy," I said, "Anthony is your patron saint." (He chose the name Anthony at confirmation because, as he put it, "He finds things.") "Can you ask him for help finding my slip?

Unbeknownst to me, he wandered over to my computer. "Music," he said.

"What?"

"Music. It was the first word I saw on your computer screen."

I thought it was kind of funny that he used "my" method. "Where did you see it?" It isn't, after all, much of a coincidence if he looked at the email I already had open to that spot.

"Right here," he said. Apparently someone had clicked on a different tab in the browser, and it was on a different page. Andy had come up with the same word. We kept searching by the clock radio, thinking we must have overlooked it.

Just about this time, the Charming and Patient Husband came into the room. Andy rushed to tell him how St. Anthony had "given us the same word." Joel peered into a laundry basket that I thought I'd already searched, and saw the baby's favorite toy sitting on top. It's a toy laptop that, when starts up, says "Hello, let's play. Let's make some music!" It gets annoying to us simpleminded grownups, I assure you. Joel said "Let's make some music!" in a perfect impersonation of the tone of the voice in the computer toy. He lifted the toy, and there was the slip.

I like St. Anthony despite his being a wise elbow. Or maybe because of it. Anyway, thank you, Saintly Friend.