It’s a grace to recognize gifts. Yesterday, the gift of searing a moment was received. It began with getting my son out to the bus. Normally they show up right at seven, but today were delayed. I took out my phone and began one of several prayers I try to get through for my children. The worries of tomorrow kept interrupting and I found myself in tears mid prayer. My son Paul is twelve. Even with Downs, his tween-ness normally... Read more
This is both real and tongue in cheek –because I know, there’s never an age when we don’t need Mom. My mom is here, and I’m fifty-five. I need her. (Thanks Mom!) 10) Be gentle, be gentle, be gentle with each other. 9) See the task, be the task. (This includes emptying trash, rodeoing the laundry, clearing out the dishwasher and yes, washing the pots and pans). Also, no shutting your eyes to not see the task. 8) Most fights... Read more
I have one days before surgery and I’ll admit it right now, I’m scared. It isn’t that I don’t need the surgery, it’s that I would prefer it didn’t require the amputation component. I also feel afraid of the surgery itself. Going under for three hours is a long time. On my window are three rows of cards from friends, organized by a friend, cheering me on, telling me, “You got this.” and in my bravest moments, I know only... Read more
So I hopped on Facebook today and found a fierce discussion going on about Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Freewill. The best way I can explain the reality of Hell is God’s final act of love to the soul blocking/unfriending Him. Anyone who does not want a relationship, shall not have it imposed upon them (hell is the rejection of God’s offer of friendship). God loves them beyond their rejection, and so they continue to be. (STILL HAVING TROUBLE WITH PICTURES SO... Read more
IMAGINE A PICTURE OF A CALENDAR HERE WITH A DATE CIRCLED IN RED. IMAGINE THE DATE IS CROSSED OUT IN BLACK. IMAGINE ANOTHER DATE CIRCLED IN RED. IMAGINE THAT ONE IS CROSSED OUT TOO. NOW IMAGINE THE NEXT DATE JUST GOT PROPOSED. In comedy and in life it seems, the rule of three applies. We’re set for Thursday, July 29th. I wrote a whole piece on how when I’m stressed, I do crazy things like binge watch 30 Rock, eat... Read more
Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels There’s a commercial for a famous brand of macaroni and cheese, where the mother chases the child with vegetables and she only finds peace when she surrenders the attempt to make her daughter eat the green stuff, and gives her what she wants –the pasta with the powdered cheese mix. Serene music plays and everyone wins. Except the child did not eat what the child did not want to eat, and the mother got peace at... Read more
Today, I have a piece over at the National Catholic Register on Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. It took two visits to help me really flesh out and get the experience. Here’s the piece, and I hope you get the chance to visit the Shrine at Emittsburg, and see what she has to say to you too. https://www.ncregister.com/features/st-elizabeth-ann-seton-the-humanity-of-sainthood-is-on-display-in-new-exhibit Read more
As a Catholic, we’re always supposed to mindful of the liturgical season; Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, Ordinary Time. Advent, the weeks leading up to Christmas, is a time of blessed waiting. I have been waiting to find the right people to perform surgery on me since May 17th. The time of blessed waiting, needs to be over. “I need a little Christmas, right this very minute. A surgeon at the ready, a hospital bed that’s waiting, yes... Read more
We took the kids swimming this Sunday at the pool with the high diving board. I hadn’t planned to revisit the foolishness of two weeks ago, as my knees still remembered my inadvertent flip. However, we weren’t the only ones to hit the pool this weekend. We watched as a woman with Down Syndrome in her mid thirties plunged fearlessly over and over again into the pool from the high dive. An elderly man also took to jumping. Courage begat... Read more
Sometimes, you need to dare in prayer. God doesn’t mind. In fact, He delights when we ask big real things of Him, because it offers Him the permission He requires of our free will to act in a way bigger than we can even rationally or reasonably expect or dare to request. My mantra for a very long time has been, “I can be unreasonable with God because God is the only one who is happy to be unreasonable with... Read more
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