Women don't have to do that? I was Ellen's best friend in middle school. Here's just one story.
Ellen and the Pizza Confession
Ellen was thirteen years old, autistic, Catholic, and completely, utterly obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She didn’t just like them—she lived them. Her entire room was a shrine to green turtle warriors. Her bedsheets? TMNT. Her toothbrush? Donatello-shaped. Her rosary beads? Green, purple, red, and orange. She even tried to make a habit of saying a Hail Mary after every episode.
She loved Donatello the most. “Because he’s smart and purple, like liturgical vestments during Advent,” she explained to her youth group once, to which they responded with a respectful nod and a whispered, “What’s liturgical vestments?”
Her social skills were… a bit of a work in progress. During Mass, she sometimes muttered TMNT quotes under her breath during the homily, like, “Wise man say: forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.” Her priest once asked her mom if she had some sort of audio Bible app going on in her headphones. Nope. Just Ellen whispering Michelangelo theology.
One time, she wore a full Leonardo costume under her school uniform for All Saints Day because, in her words, “He fights for justice like Saint Michael, and he has swords.” The nuns were horrified, but she got partial credit for enthusiasm and a deep moral sense.
Her most embarrassing moment, though, came during confession.
Ellen was a very thorough penitent. She had a whole notebook where she logged every sin. (She titled it “Sins and Stuff, Cowabunga Edition.”) She went into the confessional gripping it like it was her TMNT fan fiction.
“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” she whispered through the screen. “It’s been six days since my last confession.”
The priest on the other side braced himself.
“I, uh… I lied to my mom about finishing my math homework because I wanted to rewatch the 1990 TMNT movie director’s commentary.”
Pause.
“And I used the Lord’s name in vain… because Raphael got hit by a car and I screamed it, and I felt really bad right after!”
More silence.
“And I put anchovies on my sister's pizza on purpose because she said the Turtles were ‘just green frogs.’ I was vengeful, Father. Very Old Testament. I need penance.”
There was a long, long pause from the other side.
Then the priest coughed. “Say two Hail Marys and… maybe… take a break from pizza-related vengeance.”
Ellen gasped. “I can’t take a break from pizza, Father. I’m basically liturgically required to eat it. It’s part of my devotion.”
“…Just don’t throw it at anyone,” he mumbled.
Ellen exited the confessional beaming. She felt purified. She even went to the back of the church and drew a little picture of Splinter praying the Rosary.
But the absolute worst embarrassment came when she got her crush, Jacob (who liked Pokémon), to come over and watch TMNT with her. She meant to be super cool and mysterious—but forgot she had written “Donatello is my husband” in glitter glue on the back of her diary, which he immediately picked up, thinking it was a sketchbook.
He read it. Aloud.
She shrieked, bolted behind the couch, and refused to come out until her mom bribed her with communion wafers and chocolate milk.
Later, Jacob said, “It’s okay, Ellen. I once married my Pikachu in Animal Crossing. Wanna trade cards?”
Ellen paused.
“…Cowabunga,” she whispered.