79/365 History: Sophia's Baptism I

I was very pregnant with Sophia. Fr. Bill and I sat down to talk about the baptism, scheduled for September. I had lovely godparents in mind--my friend Rachel from college, and her husband Marvin. Rachel was a convert and they had just gotten married the September before.

But the snag was that they were about to leave for a mission trip to Nicaragua with the Jesuits. They wouldn't be here for the baptism.

"I know you can have one proxy," he says, his hand on his chin, thinking.

"Yeah," I agree. "You can have two--I mean, I was baptized and my uncle Pat was in the navy and my godmother Ann was too far away to make it either. My grandparents stood in."

He looks at me like now he's suddenly concerned about my Catholicism--like, am I really baptized.

"I don't think you can do that," he tells me with finality.

"Could you at least find out for me?" I plead, exhausted by the minutiae.

He finds out, weeks later. Had to ask a canon lawyer, he tells me. And yes, it's ok. We're on.