Cable Car Tours: The "Old" Mission Dolores
In a previous Cable Car Tour, Mr. CC visited Mission Dolores Basilica...the 'newer' one. Oh yeah, and when I say 'newer,' I mean, it was built in 1918. Yes, there are technically 2 Mission Dolores Churches. The original, the 'old' one, one of the original Californian Missions, was founded October 9, 1776. Now, I could go into a long history of the Mission, and I will in a later post, but this time, I'll go into the last time I visited the inside of the mission.
The last time I was inside the mission was for a school project. I had to do a project on a religious space within San Francisco. It must have been during my freshman year in high school. My mom picked me up from school, like she did every day, but instead of heading home or to soccer practice or one of the routine places we would go, she drove us to Dolores St. We walked in the Old Mission Dolores together and she sat down as I walked around and gathered the information I needed for my project. I walked outside to the cemetery area, my mom followed and stood in the doorway. We came back inside and we sat down in the pew.
At that time, life was hectic with me being new to high school, playing soccer, and all those crazy daily things that happens when you're a mother of a teenage son. And then it happened. My mom and I had a wonderful moment of quiet, peace and connection....by sitting there in the over 200 year old mission and not saying a word. It was better than any long conversation we could have had. We both left the mission and returned to the car and to our hectic lives, but we felt refreshed and brand new...we left with a smile and both feeling a great sense of love.
Now, almost 20 years later, things are definitely different, but the one thing still remains...life is HECTIC. However, now that I think about it, I think my mom and I could definitely benefit from visiting the Old Mission Dolores, sitting in the pew next to each other, and not saying a word.