Random Thoughts

I have read that Amy Welborn is closing down her weblog, In Between Naps. She explains why, so I won't. On the other hand, the Divine Miss Emily Stimpson (who never returns my calls) revived her own weblog, Fool's Folly, to the delight of Steubenville-watchers the world over. Including me. I, of course, intend to keep on keeping on, indefinitely, until I have enough material for my book. Then I'll be rich and semi-famous, brooding between offers to appear on Oprah or Mother Angelica Live. That's when I might reconsider. But until then...

It took my friend "Therese" and I two hours to drive from outside Baltimore to Philadelphia. It took another hour to find the place. Maybe it's because I'm a guy. Maybe it's because I have always taken great pride in rarely, if ever, getting lost. (Someone once asked Daniel Boone if he ever got lost. He replied: "Nope, but once I was a might bewildered for a few days.") We even asked two policemen how to get there, and still ended up stopping three more times before finally finding it. There are moments that are a true test of friendship. Therese was a model of understanding and compassion. We've been through so much together, seeing each other at our best and at our worst. I could not have asked for better company that evening. We finally made it to the dance, where another woman told me: "Ponder this, David; if you never got lost, you would never be able to be found." The lesson was an obvious one to me. We all get lost. We all need to be found. I was reminded of my humanity, of the need to let go of the unrealistic expectations that I have often set for myself. A few years ago, I would have spent the remainder of the evening feeling sorry for myself. Not anymore. I had a great time. So did Therese. I drove back home while she took a nap.

Today is the Feast of Saint Blase. According to Father Alban Butler, author of the classic Lives of the Saints: "He was said to be bishop of Sebaste and to have been martyred in the persecution of Licinius. His legend tells us that his powers of healing extended to animals, that hunters who had come out into the mountains to seek wild beasts for the amphitheater were amazed to see them clustered around the saint, and that on another occasion he cured a boy who was suffocating because a fish-bone had stuck in his throat. St. Blase is the patron of wild animals and woolcombers and of sufferers from afflictions of the throat." Today, around the Catholic world, members of the faithful will have their throats blessed, asking for his intercession.

Closer to home, I'm still writing a piece for a parish newsletter in Ohio. I'm also going through my closet to get it back in order, maybe get rid of more stuff.