Lourdes

July 4, 2018: Today we woke up near Biarritz in France and set out for Lourdes. We arrived around 11:30am and walked towards the baths. We thought we were in line for them but we were actually in line for the grotto where Mary appeared to Bernadette. We were behind three African women who were each dressed in a Lourdes dress from a souvenir shop. They were rubbing their hands on every inch of the cave walls and once they got to the main place they rubbed their faces, got their hands wet in the seeping water and rubbed it all over themselves. The girls were staring and taking it all in. We walked further down to the baths and discovered they had just shut things down for siesta. Frustratingly it seems like things like this have been a trend for us on this trip. We drive one day in beautiful weather to a place to go hiking and get there in foul weather. Just annoying little near misses. Even today, I went to go to the post office and found it had closed 10 minutes earlier. Anyways, back to the baths. We had to wait until 2:00 for them to reopen so we went to walk around. We went into the cathedral to sit quietly for a few moments, walked into the town to find a grocery store for lunch supplies, and let the kids wander through the souvenir shops to get little water bottles to fill. Then we headed back to get in line at the baths. James got in the men’s line and I took the girls into a family line where moms can take their kids. We arrived at 1:40 with it starting back up again at 2:00. We went right up front as there was only one pair in front of us in the family line. It was a nice time to arrive because I was able to talk to the girls about the experience beforehand. We did not force the kids to do this, they all chose to give it a try. One nice surprise was that at 2:00 all of the volunteers came out and we all took part in a group prayer. It was really cool to join hands with people from all over and say the Our Father in so many different languages at once. There are people from all over the world there and you can tell from their languages, style of clothing, and look. There is also a line of infirmed people. One lady and her caregiver seemed overcome as they prepared for their turn and both cried. Irregardless of how much you believe or not, it is difficult not to feel the power of such a spiritual place. They called our turn around 2:15 and we moved from a bench outside the to a bench inside the “building”. The girls got a little more anxious about the unknown of what would happen behind the next set of curtains. There were all sorts of people going in and out of the curtains. About 15 minutes later our turn was called and we all went in together. There was a “room”, which was about 6 feet x 6 feet with curtains on all 4 sides as walls. There were plastic chairs facing in along three of the walls. There were several “attendants” inside waiting to help us. They explained in a combination of French and English how the process would work. We were to face the wall and undress completely while they held up a large blue sheet type thing to provide some privacy. Once you were undressed they wrapped you in the cover up and you held it closed and sat down to wait your turn. The girls managed it all very well. Molly and JJ were given small colorful towels instead of the blue wraps. A few moments later we were ushered behind the remaining curtain to the room with the bath. It was small, about 6 feet x 12 feet with three attendants inside. They told me I had to go last so I volunteered Casey to go first because I knew Molly was very anxious. One attendant took Casey onto the first step down of the bath and stood behind her and held her shoulders. The other two women were down two steps at bath level and approached Casey to wrap her in a wet cloth. They very discreetly switch the dry blue wrap for the wet white one. Once she is in the new wrap, the two women each take Casey by an arm and said, “are you ready, here we go”. She walked down the two steps into the bath, the women holding her by her arms the entire time. It was about knee deep on Casey or maybe just above. They walk you to the front of it, then say “sit down” as they help dunk you back. You do not get your head wet, they just lower you up to your shoulders. As they walk you back to the steps we all pray together. I thought we would say the Our Father but they said “Out Lady of Lourdes, pray for us, Saint Bernadette, pray for us, Mary our Mother, pray for us”. Then Casey went up the stairs, they discreetly switched her back into the blue wrap and she stood to the side. One by one we each did the same thing with Julia going next, then Molly and finally me. Once I had finished we went back into the changing section and then departed. We found James easily and discovered that he got out of line because he thought he would take much longer than us and didn’t want us to have to wait afterwards. He had been in the baths in 2004 when we went the first time (when I had to drop out of line for the same reason). The kids filled their souvenir bottles with holy water and we went back to get the car. We drove just 20-30 minutes into Luz-Saint-Sauveur in the Pyrenees. We found our hotel and walked around town very briefly. We came back and the kids jumped into the pool. We have a kitchen so I got some groceries and we had a cooked meal. Hot dogs for the Fourth of July or course! A huge storm rolled into the valley and we are enjoying the rain and thunder sounds. I’m praying for nice weather tomorrow as we have an exciting outdoor day planned for the kids.