Today is Mary’s birthday.  Let’s all pause for a piece of chocolate, shall we?  I’m quite sure Mary would approve.

In my weekly column at Today’s Catholic Woman, I share the story behind Our Lady of Charity, who the Cubans fondly call Cachita. I can’t help but reflect how nicknaming works with the people I love, and of course with that four-year-old in my house.  Blogging has allowed me to get creative with people’s names, not knowing how much they want out there for the world to see, and in doing that, I’ve learned a lot about

You can tell a lot about a person by their nicknames, can’t you?  Cachita is someone I cuddle up with, someone I walk with, someone I talk to regularly.  Giving her a nickname makes her more approachable, but it also reminds me that she’s human.  Just like me.  (And yet, so very much not like me.)

Over at Faith & Family Live, I have some reflections about Mary’s birthday and a bit of the story of what we know about her birth. Did you know that Anne and Joachim, Mary’s parents, were childless until late in life?  Have you heard the story of how Mary’s first steps were at the Temple?  What does the feast of her birth, which we celebrate today, mean in your life?

As a disclaimer, our Labor Day did not involve a backhoe, due to some last minute changes in plan.  That was just as well, though we did get dirty with a clean-up project.  My husband, who keeps hero status for at least another month for this idea, built a little fire and we roasted weenies and marshmallows at the end of the day yesterday.