Treacherous Brook

Beep, beep, beep.....I really need to have one of those back-up beeper things on my car and I expect that some day, my husband, purely out of a deep concern for my well-being will get me that for a birthday or Mother's Day or Christmas. He's practical like that. In the immortal words of Raymond in 'Rainman'---'I'm an excellent driver...' --except when I am backing up. Now I don't get in trouble every time I back up, but the few fender benders I have had always involve the little 'R' on my gear shift. So much so it has gotten to be a little family joke---very little. Backing up can be dangerous. In my most recent episode, I was backing into a parking place, precisely because I was again in what I consider the funkiest parking lot ever and I always worry about backing into a rather large, poorly placed stone wall. So, by backing into a parking space, I can just pull out and go. Sounds reasonable. Too bad the woman coming into said parking lot at th...

Everyone who knows me knows I am passionate of all things political. It, to me, is a most interesting study of the human condition. As I write this, I am channel surfing to all the news that is news about the primaries happening today in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas. The Tea Party has had a big victory in Kentucky with Rand Paul and the others are still not able to be called. I find it humorous that this Administration blows off the defeat after defeat after defeat for his party as something they are 'not paying any attention to'. Right. What is interesting is the White House and those minions surrounding this President and pressing toward their very socialist agenda have something far more catastrophic to worry about, and they are clueless. It happened this weekend. For years I have listened to Evangelical Christian radio. Though I consider myself a devout Catholic, I owe much to my brothers and sisters in Christ that provided a medium that put the meat on the...

Be serious. Graduations rank right up there near root canals for me....and probably for most of you. We attended our son's graduation in Chicago this weekend from Columbia College--an 'arts' school in the heart of that city, in case you are not familiar. What a surprise! We arrived for the 10 o'clock ceremony at 9:00. That was the best hour we spent in a long, long time! There was a stage for the jazz band on the floor; stages 'suspended' on either side of the main stage. One sterling performance after another....timing, flawless. Talent, incredible! The lighting, sound, and talent all performed and choreographed by students and faculty of the school. An energy flowed through that place. We had our 11 month old grand-daughter who was absolutely mesmerized. Unfortunately for them--the graduates don't get to enjoy this--they were back in the staging area in the parking garage preparing for their entrance. And enter they did! How many graduates...

We head for Chicago this weekend for our son's graduation from grad school! When did that happen? Wasn't he a kid just yesterday? Indeed. Time moves so quickly we seldom stop and live the 'moment'. For me, the road trip is the only way to do that. For one thing, you can't really rush it. The drive between St. Louis and Chicago is, shall we say...less than inspiring....and it cannot be rushed. We will leave early so we have plenty of time to stop at a couple of favorite small towns along the way; a couple of antique shops just to see what's 'new'-- savoring the moments that allow us to be lifted up out of our circumstance of daily living one mile at a time. It is on those trips that my faithful companion and husband of almost 33 years and I find the time and space to dream. Dreams of the future...plans 'full of hope' that our Lord has promised us in the scriptures. Somehow that is difficult to do when we are at home. For us, home is both the place...

I had a conversation with a friend last week that got me thinking. She mentioned that she had been to the pro-life march in D. C. in January. This was not her first trip, but this one seemed different. She felt that the group she traveled with was edgy and one mishap after another was happening. When they arrived, she felt a palpable heaviness there. "It was 'evil'", I suggested in a even tone--not necessarily because of where she was, but because I have, on many occasions, experienced that same feeling. She looked at me as though I had read her mind. That was exactly how it felt to her...and she just did not want to call it out. Not a surprise. Why are we afraid of that--calling evil for what it is. For those of us who are believers, it is certainly not because we don't, at some level, understand the basis of it. I believe the real reason is that we are afraid of being dismissed as being a little over zealous in our beliefs. Sadly, people feel that way with goo...