I have copied below a blog post from last June that has become the second most visited post from 2008. Since the writing of this post, I left that job before renovating the statue but you better believe I took the Virgin Mary's thumb with me! Her holy thumb dangles freely with the aid of dental floss from my rear view mirror. Mary's thumb and I still cruise all over town together. Enjoy this post from yesteryear:
"This might be old news to Chicago folks but...the Virgin Mary has been sighted at the Kennedy expressway underpass at Fullerton Ave. An altar of candles and flowers surrounds this holy image made up of salt and oil on concrete. Last week, I finally pulled my car over to visit this Mary Apparition. It has gotten a fair amount of local publicity and has been on my commute for months. For a long while I thought it was just a memorial to a fatal accident, but it has been a Marian apparition all along! I parked my car and went in for a nice close-up of Big M. With all respect, I suspect a little magic marker touch-up was done to bring out her features...we all need a little touch-up with age I suppose...
So it was interesting that another Mary manifestation entered my life a week later... I encounter lots of unexpected events, requests, projects every time I go to work (where my title is the Craft Cottage coordinator) but today was extra special.
While walking out to the parking lot today, I saw the facilities manager and maintenance worker extracting something heavy and large from the back of a truck. Behold! The Virgin Mary was being dropped at my doorstep. I suddenly recalled an email from the day before asking if I wanted to restore a statue. Whether I liked it or not, there she was. I may not be the best Catholic on earth to be called on for Mary renovations, but the responsibility now rests with Jean, Craft Cottage Coordinator.
Before leaving, the maintenance worker rummaged around in the truck and procured the Virgin Mary's detached thumb...surely broken in transit.
I giggled in awe at the heavy stone/concrete thumb rolling around in my palm. After negotiating the proper location for Mary with the workers, I quickly ran into the main building to proclaim the arrival of Mary... with her thumb, of course, proudly raised in the air! To prove that the art lady was not a crazy prophet, I took a group out to visit her and prove her existence. All afternoon, the thumb safely stayed in the pocket of my apron like a little rabbit's foot.
My task now is to return Mary to her proper state. She has obviously had a botched nose job.
Her missing index finger also indicates her current disqualification for the military.
I'd like to think Mary is in no hurry to acquire a prosthetic trigger finger. One fellow employee has advised me to get some epoxy for her thumb and that I can build a new finger for her. I'm also currently investigating ways to strip it of its chipping coat of paint. Are there any stone sculpture renovators out there? I've already been told it is NOT okay to paint her in polka dots. I would never do something so tacky-ahem- but I'm open to hearing other ideas. How can I best restore Our Lady of Crafts???
Since Mary has arrived the last day of work at the Craft Cottage before I depart on my little road trip, I think it's only fair that Mary's thumb sits shotgun on my trip to Virginia next week. With Mary's thumb's blessings, the polka-dot car will surely hold up well enough in Appalachia and we won't need to "thumb" any rides."
