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At 3:30 PM, I received an urgent email from the president of Two's Choral Booster Club. It said, "We have six more seniors than we thought! Can you bring your wrapping paper before the concert?" I sat in the van, letting the full import of that message sink in, and my faith in the power of the Universe was renewed. Let me explain.

About six weeks ago, I attended a Booster Club meeting, and volunteered to wrap the gifts that would be presented to the departing seniors at the banquet. Last Friday, the president called to ask if I wanted them that day, instead of the following Tuesday, so I would have more time to wrap them. I thought that was very kind of her, since the banquet isn't until June 12th. She really understands my busy life. We met in the parking lot of Target and I got the gifts.

On Monday, there was a call for volunteers to buy water, or bake items for sale at the concert. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was thanked for agreeing to wrap the gifts. I went to Costco Tuesday and bought the water, which Two unloaded for me at the end of concert rehearsal. The president met me there, with a basket to hold the gifts for presentation. I still hadn't wrapped them, but I figured it was good to have the basket in advance.

When I opened my email this afternoon, it slowly dawned on me that the gifts wouldn't be presented to the seniors at the banquet, but TONIGHT AT THE CONCERT! That's why the president gave me the presents and the basket! That's why they thanked me for volunteering! Oh my God, I had 36 small boxes to wrap and get to the the school by 6:30, and I hadn't even chosen a design motif!

Lucky for me, I employ a color-coded wrapping system at Christmas. Each boy gets all his presents wrapped in one solid color-red, green, blue, white, or gold. So, I already had green and gold paper, which are the school colors. I ran downstairs, unrolled "Santa's" paper, and set up shop on the air hockey table. I'm not actually Wonder Woman, so Four and Five had to skip tae kwon do, but they did manage to get most of their homework done. I sliced and individually wrapped a dozen large, gooey brownies, and I flew out the door with Two, the gifts, and the extra wrapping supplies.

The Captain and the little boys joined me at the concert. It was stifling in the auditorium, but Four and Five hung in there. When the singing began, Five asked, "Where are the priests? It sounds like church in here." Then Four said, "I can hear Two. He sounds great! You handed that down to him, right Dad?" His father was once asked, at a family funeral, to stop singing, so he laughed, and said, "No, he gets that from Mom."

The kids sounded great, as usual. At the end of the concert, the gifts were distributed, and no one knew how close they had come to leaving empty-handed. Yesterday, Oprah said to listen for the voice of God, which comes in a whisper at first, but can progress to shouting, or worse, if unheeded. I smiled as I listened to the choir perform "Battle Hymn of the Republic." I hadn't heard the whispers, so I'm glad I got the screaming email . Glory, glory, hallelujah- it saved me.