A Few of My Favorite Things

We've been watching The Sound of Music quite a bit in the last few days, and I catch myself humming "A Few of My Favorite Things" at odd moments. Inspired by a meme I've seen around (specifically at luminous miseries and Adoro te Devote), I thought I'd share some of my favorite rosaries with you.

My First Rosary:
When I entered the Catholic Church in April, 2001, my dear mother-in-law game me this rosary. Though it's broken (it broke at the medal), I'll never part with it. I learned to pray on this rosary, bumbling along and feeling the wooden beads beneath my fingers. This is actually a replacement - the original one that she gave me only had nine beads on the first and last decades, and she took it back to the store, demanding a replacement. When she gave it to me, she apologized. "I didn't have very much money to spend," she explained, "but I thought the wooden beads would remind you of the cross." That they have...and of her including me as a member of her family.

My Car Rosary:
Padre gave me this rosary after his last trip to the Holy Land. It's made of olive wood, and like my first rosary, the wooden beads remind me of the Cross. They're also easy to hold while I drive, and on one of the decades (either the first or last, I think), two of the beads are stuck together. This imperfection makes me think, inevitably, of my own imperfection, and of how God can take my weaknesses and use them for his glory. (Now, if I could only cooperate with those graces!)

My Purse Rosaries:
These are all-twine knotted rosaries, made by my friends at Real Life Rosary. The baby blue rosary lives in my wallet-purse, and the white one (which has gold flecks in it) is in a side pocket of my main purse. They're ideal for the oh-no-the-Toddlerina-is-wailing moments at Mass, when she discards everything else. They are unbreakable and I find the knots comforting somehow.

My Kitchen Rosary:
Maybe it sounds odd to have a rosary in the kitchen, but I usually start my days in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee and praying a rosary and Morning Prayer. I love the bright blue of this rosary, which reminds me of Mary's mantle. I also love that this rosary reminds me of a road trip with friends and of Rosary Army (who provided it in the goodie bags of the Catholic New Media Celebration in Atlanta).

My Pretty Rosary:
Padre does a lot of international traveling. Recently, I started asking him to bring me a rosary from his destinations. The first time I asked, he brought back the Holy Land rosary above. This rosary was from his trip to Ireland, and it's made of some kind of special stone (yes, I forget). The square beads are held together with links and there's an Irish cross (at least, that's what I think it's called). The beads are all different, and they feel funny when I hold them. This is a good prompt for me to consider how discomfort isn't the end of the world, and how things that are pretty can be truly beautiful when they serve a purpose. I keep this rosary in a drawer in the kitchen, and when I have a special intention, or just a hankering that I need all the help I can get, I pull it out.

My Everyday Rosary:
This is the rosary I've been using everyday lately. I bought this rosary (and three others to give as gifts) after seeing a close-up picture and then reading about them over at Blessed Among Men. I love that with each Hail Mary, I'm holding a little baby in my fingers. My girls like it too; they inevitably want to hold the "baby rosary" and Toddlerina makes a sound suspiciously like "pitty" when she sees it.

That's it for me. Do you have favorite rosaries? Comments open.