Our friend’s daughter, little miss Olivia… you know, she is the one I babysit with now and then… got baptized yesterday, and I was honored to be invited.

There is her dad, Joey, who has been friends with my wife since they were young, and whom I have known since the 80’s.

Olivia was not happy to have her head splashed with water, no matter how holy it was purported to be. I have never been to a Catholic baptism before, and I am pretty nonreligious these days, but I respect all beliefs, even if I don’t share them.

And it really was an honor to be there… I love that kid…

And afterwards, we all… (there was a bunch of their family there, even though my wife and daughter couldn’t make it, I was representin’, yo)… trooped over to a restaurant called Giovanni’s… because Joey comes form a good Italian family… and there I took what might be my favorite picture of Olivia ever… with her having come straight from church, to end up sitting on a pool table with a bar in the background… Yes, of course I teased Joey about his daughter getting an early start… what kind of friend do you think I am???

It was an awesome day, and I got a chance to wear my suite again… but I don’t have any pictures… this day wasn’t about me.

It was about this little angel… who still had anointing oil all over her head…

Which made it possible to practice some slick disco moves… ha!

Joey was feeding her cannoli and saying: “Olivia, this is the food of our people.”… I was cracking up…

And yet, as she was savoring that Italian dessert, she did seem, for the first time that day, to have a real religious experience…