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The day Lynn fainted in church

My best friend Johanna and I were visiting some friends at Marquette University, the weather had been beautiful that weekend, and we had been having a great time.  Since it was Palm Sunday all seven of us walked the couple blocks to Gesu; one of the most beautiful and biggest old churches I have ever seen.  A little ways into the service, everyone stood up and we started to read the long "play" that always accompanied the Palm Sunday service.  

While we were standing there I became really hot and started to sweat a little bit.  I contemplated taking my sweatshirt off, but since I hadn't yet showered that morning, I decided in the best interest of everyone around me to not do it.  It became really hard for me to concentrate, and the priest was pushed to the back of my mind.  It was dizzy feeling, and trying to make myself feel better I leaned against the pew in front of us, closed my eyes, and dropped my head to rest it.  Johanna nudged my arm, and I put out my hand signaling to her not to worry, and that I was fine.  All I wanted to do was just sit down.  But what would everyone else think if I were to sit down in the middle of it?  I lifted my head back up let my eyes wonder upon the architecture of the church.  The stained glass windows and marble pillars started to turn red.  I closed my eyes and dropped my head again, trying to make the red go away.  My whole body felt heavy as I squinted then opened my eyes several times while shaking my head. Then the red turned into black.

I opened my eyes and there were about 10 people that had formed a circle around me, and they were all asking if I was okay.  I was laying on the pew, and my friend Ryan was holding my feet up.  The first pair of eyes I caught were Johanna's.  We both mouthed the words: "What happened?" at the same time.  Everyone was still staring at me, and I mouthed back to her: "I fainted?"  She smiled and shook her head.  A lady in the pew behind us asked if I was thirsty and if I would like a drink of water.  I started to sit up and said to her no thank you, and that I would be fine.  I stayed sitting for the last 15 minutes or so of the "play," like she told me to.   I couldn't believe myself, I couldn't believe that I had fainted.  This little incident definitely takes the number two place on my list of most embarrassing moments.  But hey, at least I got to sit down, right?  Every time we had to stand or kneel, even though I felt just like new, I was afraid that I was going to go down again.  All the way to receive Communion I was praying that I wouldn't faint again, or at least if I did, it could wait until I got back to my seat.  

When Mass ended, and we left in peace to love and serve, everyone was kind of quiet walking back to the dorms.  To ease the tension I had created, I started to joke about the situation.  I announced with a smirk: "Honestly, who faints in church?"  I got a couple chuckles out of that.  Later one of my friends told me that he had also fainted in church a couple of years ago.  He said that it can happen when you lock your knees while standing there because it prevents the blood in your legs from going up, and that might have been what I did. This made me feel a little better, and I guess people just faint in church from time to time.