I was gentle with him ;)

Last night the kids were all elswhere; Rachel spent the night at a friend's house, Kevin went to my dad's early, and they picked Alex up from his date at 10:30 and he went to my dad's as well, leaving the house very quiet and Ian looking at me like, "You're going to hurt me, aren't you?"

Other than Rachel's night out, it was orchestrated, yes, but not for the reason he assumed. I just thought it would make it easier this morning, when Alex would pointedly skip church, leaving Rachel and Kevin dragging their heels, and frankly, Ian and I as well.

This has been along time coming; while Alex has had his doubts and has openly questioned the church he's been raised in, Ian has waffled for years, and I was never exactly Catholic. The truth is that if not for our kids, I suspect Ian would have drifted away in the wake of his divorce--he lost a lot of respect for it when he realized he could throw a ton of money at it and have an annulment very quickly--and I never would have bothered.

Our involvement is entirely kid-centric; it's hard to avoid when the kids are in the school they're in and because we've gotten as involved as we have. But we're where we are because we did want to give them something to center belief around; Craig, when he posted a comment in Ian's earlier post, was right: Ian was cold cocked in the face by a nun when he was 12 years old. I think much of his "respect" for his church is fear, and that's not the best thing to build your faith on.

I doubt we'll pull them out of their school; their friends are there and they are getting a very good education, but if next Sunday rolls around and no one has turned the alarm on, and then the Sunday after that, I just don't think anyone in this family will be heartbroken.

Well, no more than they already are. It's fair to say Ian's is, just a little bit.