"The Nod"

(Reprinted from 2014--I will be taking July off from posting. I look forward to starting up again in August!)

I remember the first time I left Mass early.

I was 11, I think, and my older cousin had tapped me and let me know we'd leave right after Communion. We were such renegades! As we headed past the doors, I grabbed a bulletin to give to my mom as "proof" that I went to Mass, and the two of us ran home to my grandmother's while they were finishing the Communion hymn.

When were back in our hometown and on our way to Mass at our own parish, I (foolishly) asked my parents if we could leave after Communion.  If I could have seen my mother's face, I'm sure the mixture of shock and disapproval would have been plain, but instead I heard my dad say:

"How about this: you kids look at me right before Communion, and if I give "the nod" then you'll know to just keep walking out the door instead of coming back to our pew?"