I didn’t know how to pray

My dad is a non-practicing Buddhist. My mom is a non-practicing Catholic. My dad is a rebel. My mom was forced to go to mass every week and didn’t want to do that to her kids when she had them. So, my brother and I grew up without any religion, no deity, no faith, we didn’t even know to ask about ”spirituality.”

When I was in fifth grade, my friends were going to confirmation classes and I wanted to tag along. So, I got to learn about God at Sunday school. The prayers I learned were the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary.”

When my husband and I started dating, I was a new Christian. I remember being on the phone with him and he wanted us to end the night in prayer. This was back in the day before FaceTime, so he couldn’t see the shock I was in that he’d ask me to pray.

For anyone reading who isn’t “in the know,” Christians come together in prayer, and we do a thing where they identify someone who opens a time of prayer, and then it’s open mic night. People jump in as they feel moved to, and there is a person who was identified to close prayer and that person speaks up when there is an extended, awkward pause, but like a really extended pause, because you want to make sure you aren’t prematurely shutting down open mic night.

Well, my Christian boyfriend asked me to open in prayer and he’d close in prayer. Okay, got it. Here I go.

Silence.

…Silence for five minutes.

…More silence.

…Silence for 15 minutes.