For Karri Norris, being a lunch lady at East Ridge High School in Woodbury is an ongoing opportunity to pray for teens. And when she clocks out, she continues to seek “pray-tunities,” as she dubs them — thanking cashiers, smiling at strangers and inquiring about people’s tattoos.
“Jeff Cavins calls it the tattoo ministry,” said Norris, 49, a mother of two who belongs to St. Thomas Aquinas in St. Paul Park. “I’ll say, ‘I really like your tattoo. Why did you choose it?’ It’s often about a parent who (died) or a friend who (died by) suicide. You can say, ‘I’m a Christian, and I’ll pray for you.’ Prayer-tunities are everywhere. It’s just a question of whether we’re taking them.”
Q) You’re about to celebrate a milestone birthday. You don’t look 50! Your skin!
A) It’s all that steam from the dishwashers in the kitchen! It helps with the wrinkles. Lunch lady facials every day!
Q) The ending of a school year always reminds me of the passage of time. Does it hit you too?
A) This year, more than ever! Turning 50 makes me want to re-examine my life. Where am I going? At my age, I’m a little more secure so I feel like I can make the changes that need to be done. My oldest has two more years in the house.
Q) Have you figured out how to slow time?
A) I try to live in the moment. I think that’s what it comes down to. It doesn’t have to be the perfect moment. It doesn’t have to be Instagram-worthy. It doesn’t have to cost money. It can be so simple. Since my oldest, Andie, started getting hours with her permit, we’ve started going on sunset drives. We’ll head out to Afton, and it always has to be sunset, and I let her drive and pick out the music. She plays Taylor Swift, and we take these random roads and see cows and deer. I’ll always, always remember our sunset drives.
Q) St. Thomas Aquinas was your childhood parish, and now you coordinate liturgy there and prepare the first Communicants.
A) It’s so welcoming. It just feels like home. I love getting to know the kids and how they learn. I’m really expressive. I get jazzed up about little things.
Q) Your faith is contagious!
A) We’d all strayed from the Catholic faith, but my mom’s faith remained strong. She (died) 11 years ago, and it pulled us all back in. It’s been incredible. It started with my dad. He was so thankful for the beautiful funeral service that he wanted to give back. He became an usher and got baptized and went through RCIA (now OCIA). We all followed suit behind him. It was bigger than us. My husband, Chuck, became Catholic and went through RCIA. (now OCIA). He’s in his second year at the Catechetical Institute (in St. Paul). He’s a self-taught thurifer — he learned how to carry and swing incense at our parish. My brother-in-law just got accepted into the diaconate program. I said yes to the (Archdiocesan) Synod, and it just took off from there.
My mom is our guardian angel. She’s like, “This is what I wanted, and it took me going to heaven to get you guys where you need to be.”
Q) You’re able to continue to bond with your mom — in new ways — through your spiritual growth.
A) I keep picturing her up there with Jesus: “Yep, that’s my girl. That’s what I wanted her to do.”
You just have to say yes. Mary said yes to Jesus. That could be the Catholic slogan: “Just say yes.”
There’s something tangible about having a rosary in your hand and feeling that prayer. So, I’m there just asking for her wisdom and courage. Every morning, I pray a rosary with the “Rosary in a Year” Ascension app. Father Mark-Mary Ames leads the podcast, and he ends every lesson by saying “poco a poco” — little by little in Spanish.
I’m like, “Oh! God is poking me!” I’m having a feeling that I need to learn Spanish. We have a Hispanic following at our parish, and I wish I could explain more in Spanish when I volunteer at the food shelf. Maybe I’ll start doing Duolingo on my walks. Something is happening!
Q) It sounds like God is also working through you at the high school. What’s it like getting that wave of teens pouring in for lunch?
A) It’s like a concert: They open the gates, and here they come! You can see these garage doors rising and all these tennis shoes. It’s overwhelming and awesome at the same time. You don’t know what kind of day they’re having. I always have a dad joke in my apron — the cheesiest jokes in the world. Sometimes they look anxious or like they just got done crying, so I’ll say, “Hey, I’m sending you positive vibes!” On the inside, I ask, “Jesus, can you lift her up?” I’m like, “Pray for Ashton, pray for James, pray for Ashley. Come, Holy Spirit!” It just takes one second.
We had one kiddo I’d see at the condiment table almost every day. Then he showed up in the faith formation room downstairs. He had a friend in our faith formation group, and she invited him. He started coming to church, and I invited him to sit with our family. I met his mom on Easter. I don’t know his story. He hasn’t been coming lately, but I’m praying for him.
Q) Let’s talk about summer. It’s a time for rest and renewal.
A Yes! Rest your body! I don’t think people understand the physicality that lunch ladies endure every day. We have multiple deliveries a week of food on these 50-pound pallets. We’re slinging them into the freezers, stacking them, moving them, separating by date. Each sheet pan is 5 pounds, and then you’re adding food to it. All the lunch ladies need healing.
Walks are everything for me right now, and we live close to the trails, so I just hop on and go. Sometimes I’ll listen to Catholic podcasts. I’m a huge fan of the WDGY app. It’s old rock ’n’ roll — anything from Chicago to Earth, Wind and Fire. I have a plant ID app. It’s a rabbit hole. I’m like, “Oh, what’s that plant? I love it!” So, I take a picture, and it identifies it. Sometimes I go and buy some!
Q) Do you garden?
A) I have a flower garden. It used to be a garden-garden, but it was stressing me out.
So, last year I changed it to just planting wildflowers. I got a box of seeds from The Dollar Tree, and I just poured them in. I was like, “What can go wrong? They don’t grow for $1.25?” And they grew! It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed!
Q) They got to be in their wild glory.
A) Yep, so I just sit back and enjoy them. Since they’re wildflowers and they usually grow in ditches, you don’t have to water them every day at a certain time.
Q) No pressure, no timeline. This was about delight.
A) It really was. I don’t know what’s going to pop up. I just let it be. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, that’s OK.
Q) What do you know for sure?
A) I think it would be the Nicene Creed. I believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. I believe in one holy, Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. I tell my first Communicants this all the time: You’re never alone. We have Jesus with us all the time! You get to receive him — and then go spread this love. The possibilities are bountiful.
