Lissie's New Friend

Earlier this summer, Lissie was quite intrigued by the pictures of Pope Francis and our bishop that she saw at Mass.  She kept asking about their hats and their clothes and said that she really wanted to meet them to see what they were like.  I told her that they are both very busy people, but if she wanted we could draw them pictures and write them letters.

To our surprise, not even a week later, we got a response from the bishop!

Lissie was ecstatic!  She treasured the picture greatly and was quite thrilled to be invited to have breakfast with the bishop.

I called his secretary to give her a few dates that would work with our schedule, and she called me back to formally invite sweet Lissie to breakfast with the bishop at a lovely restaurant!  I was shocked!  I was anticipating a little meeting in a conference room at the Catholic Center with donuts or something, but he went all out and invited her to go out for a special meal that she will cherish forever.  His secretary said that he was really looking forward to meeting her and was a little sad that we had to wait three weeks for the big day due to his busy travel schedule.  And, of course, Lissie was pleased as punch to be going out to eat with her new friend.

I think I was the only one who had a bit of anxiety about the breakfast - I prepped Lissie on not eating too much or too fast and we went over things that she could tell the bishop and talked about questions that she wanted to ask.  We made him a picture the night before, and she couldn't wait to give it to him.

Breakfast was fabulous!  Lissie learned a lot of new things about her friend, and she told him about her family and pets.  They sang songs together ("Twinkle Twinkle" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider") and discussed a little theology ("What's heaven like and how do we get there?").  At the very end, Lissie - without warning - told the bishop that she wanted him to come to her house to play.  I tried to laugh it off, but the bishop was excited about the invitation and wanted to make it happen in the next few months before Christmas.

All day long, Lissie has been talking about her new friend.  She already can't wait to show him her dog and "cook" for him in her play kitchen.

I'm so very blessed and grateful that we have such an awesome bishop for our diocese.  It really warmed my heart that he took the time out of his very busy schedule to meet with a little three-year-old. Without a doubt, I think that Lissie will remember this breakfast for a long time.

Oh, and Pope Francis?  He also sent Lissie his picture!  Lucky goose!