The Immaculate Conception

Mary was always my favorite when I was a kid. The nuns at school convinced me that she listened very closely to little boys' prayers, and if there was anything you wanted or needed then you should pray to her, not the big guy. I believed it completely, and was actually very happy about the whole thing. I prayed to her a lot, and we just talked a lot too. I didn't have enough courage to talk with the big guy, he had a lot of important work to do, more than to listen to a little boy. I had her statue in my bedroom and... she glowed in the dark. Did I mention, I talked to her a lot? That glowing statue kinda spooked me a little, I prayed to her to make that thing stop glowing. When I got a little older, 8-9 years old, my sister and I said a rosary at bed time, in the dark, taking turns praying aloud on each bead, calling out to each other loud enough so we could hear each other in our own beds. My rosary beads glowed in the dark, too. As Catholics, we were in the dark a lot. Hey, this was 1959-1960, people did that stuff. Jeez, I hope someone else did. It was NICE, not PATHETIC. At the time.

OK, the Immaculate Conception. Capitalized, a big deal. Ya think it's about having a baby but being a virgin - that kind of "immaculate"? BZZZZZZZZ. Sorry. The virgin birth was... the virgin birth. Pretty darn interesting but not the Immaculate Conception.
The key words are "immaculate" and "conception" (ummm, the only words), so this is about getting pregnant, not about giving birth. Mary was the one... and only... person to be CONCEIVED (by her mother) without ORIGINAL SIN on her soul, making her conception (and her soul) IMMACULATE from the get-go. She would be the proper vessel for the later virgin conception and birth of the baby to be born (Jesus, for those not following.)
So the Conception was in reference to Mary's mother conceiving Mary, in the traditional way we must assume.
So there it is.
And if I remember correctly, Adam and Eve had no original sin on their souls. But they weren't conceived, right? I guess that would be called the Immaculate Creation. And to close the loop, they went on to use that "free will" thing to make ONE BAD CHOICE so that the rest of us are burdened with original sin.
Back to the stand-up!