It was a real wedge issue with my mom. She was a devout Catholic. Claimed to have heard the voice of God speaking to her once (no, she wasn't otherwise crazy).
Anyway, she always insisted that I would need god and the church in my life. After I went to university and started taking philosophy classes, I just thought religion was hard to swallow. Definitely not for me. Fortunately, my wife feels very much the same way.
When we got married, it was on my parent's front lawn, by a justice of the peace. There were 10 people in attendance. We spent $750. It was great! My mom was gracious about it, but word got back to me that she really wanted us to have a big church wedding. I just let it slide.
She tried imposing religion on me several more times over the years but it always ended in futility. She believed so strongly in it and she wanted all of us to believe too.
We were otherwise very close. This will probably not surprise you but I sometimes made jokes about the Catholic church, priests, god, etc. in front of her. Sometimes she had to laugh. Other times she would shake her head and tell me to knock it off.
RIP, Ma!
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