The Color of Sympathy Cards

I was putting away all the sympathy cards I received after dad died. I wonder if the greeting card industry gets together and sets a 'color of the year'? They were all the same shade of this pale blue. Maybe psychologists have studied that it's a color that is most soothing. I know that blue, in general, is supposed to be soothing - that's why the IRS uses that color on tax forms.

And the sentiments. I think only people who have had someone die in the last 6 months should write the sentiments. It is so hard to find a sympathy card that isn't cheesy...or overly religious...or...sensless.

Most of them talk about how deeply someone will miss their "loved one". Well what if they won't? What if they weren't that close? Or what if their loved one has been dying a slow, painful death and it's all a relief? Where are those cards?

Kitty and Planning for the Serengeti

Kitty is still pretty serious about this Serengeti stuff.
I came home the other night and he's found flights from NYC. He spent an hour begging to use a credit card to book a flight. I can't seem to convince him of the dangers. I wish he could find something else to distract him. He typically has a usually-short kitty attention span. But not with this!

I keep telling him it's not like going on a trip to the kitchen. He'd have to catch his own food and fight off wild animals. Maybe I can get him to re-focus on Easter and the Easter Bunny. Chocolate is always a good distraction for me....

Sister, My Sister

I had the gift of a 90 minute visit with Sister Margaret, who turned 80 last summer. She is doing well...a little slower physically, but as active in her learning and prayer life. It was the perfect end to our spring meeting of the Advisory Board of the St. Teresa Leadership and Service Institute for Women. We had just spent two days working on the continued building of the Institute, which included an invigorating meeting with the Leadership Team of the Sister of St. Francis (Rochester, MN). We had a dynamic discussion on spiritual development and how to address that through the lens of many Faiths and Leadership.

Sister Margaret was not teaching when I went to CST. She was my advisor for Pax Christi/ Bread for the World. We were remembering the 1983 National Meeting of Pax Christi, held up at Assisi Heights. What an incredible weekend that was in my life! Helping plan for it; of course, helping run it; and meeting so many of the people who were national and international leaders in the peace movement.

It was Sister Margaret who brough Gordon Zahn to campus. He wrote "In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter". And many others. Individuals who worked and wrote and lived and taught around social justice issues. Such models.

I joked with Sister Margaret that I hold her fully responsible for my leadership skills today. I think I led that group for 3 years and I'm sure she was the one who talked me into it! But she modeled so much for me.

And she continues to teach me to this day. When I'm stuck in life, I just reach out to her and she sends a card or a prayer. When I need to understand something better, she sends me a book.

Always the mentor...and I, her mentee.

Kitty Goes to...the Serengeti?

The ideas small kitties get in their much smaller brains...

Yesterday Oprah had the men from the "Christian, the Lion" video on. Have you seen it? If not, get Kleenex - here it is

Christian The Lion Music Video - Watch more amazing videos here

So Kitty gets this idea that he wants to go to the "SerinSpaghetti" and live like a Lion (for those of us who went to college, aka the Serengeti). We talked to him about the dangers of life in a 30,000km area that serves as the location of the world's largest overland migration.

No-o-o-o-o-o! He wouldn't hear of it! He wants a pride...and to chase Wildebeests...and to sun himself in trees. He tried to talk Bunny into becoming his Lioness, but Bunny got tired of that pretty quick!

This morning Kitty was nowhere to be found. We searched high and low, calling his name far and wide. Then, about 2pm we found him, sunning himself in a tree. I guess we'll let him stay in his SerenSpaghetti world for a little longer. Eventually he'll want to come down and watch tv!

Kitty Goes to...the Serengeti?

The ideas small kitties get in their much smaller brains...

Yesterday Oprah had the men from the "Christian, the Lion" video on. Have you seen it? If not, get Kleenex - here it is

Christian The Lion Music Video - Watch more amazing videos here

So Kitty gets this idea that he wants to go to the "SerinSpaghetti" and live like a Lion (for those of us who went to college, aka the Serengeti). We talked to him about the dangers of life in a 30,000km area that serves as the location of the world's largest overland migration.

No-o-o-o-o-o! He wouldn't hear of it! He wants a pride...and to chase Wildebeests...and to sun himself in trees. He tried to talk Bunny into becoming his Lioness, but Bunny got tired of that pretty quick!

This morning Kitty was nowhere to be found. We searched high and low, calling his name far and wide. Then, about 2pm we found him, sunning himself in a tree. I guess we'll let him stay in his SerenSpaghetti world for a little longer. Eventually he'll want to come down and watch tv!

It's 5pm and the sun fades behind the stained glass....

A few months ago our Parish began a Sunday 5pm Jazz Mass. It was a slow start. Not a lot of people, few musicians, difficulty getting used to having music you don't sing to. But now it's packed. There's at least a trombone and tenor sax and piano, if not more instrumentation. There's a team of greeters with name tags you can read. This week there were so many people, Fr. M. had to go back into the Tabernacle and get more hosts!

It's a beautifully mellow mass. Lots of candles, dimmed lights. The music is jazzy, but soothing. Today there was a little Gershwin at communion. There's a whole other level of reverence. It's easier to still your mind and open your heart. The prayers of the faithful are done communal style. Anyone can offer up a prayer. There is so much pain and loss and Faith and grace out there. It makes me realize what a blessing my life is.

And this time of year (as well as in the fall), 5pm is when the sun is beginning to set outside, lending a special light to the stained glass windows which is off-set by the darkness inside the church. The space, the light, the quiet, the calm...I only wish I didn't have to wait for Sundays at 5pm to experience it.

Suburban or Urban? It's all dependent.

I grew up suburban: the suburbs of Chicago. In high school we moved out west to Wheaton, a full-blown suburban environment. If you didn't drive you were trapped in your sub-division. No buses. If there was a cab service, I didn't know about it. It was nice to be out in the "country" (we actually had five horse farms within a 1/2 mile of the house and fox lived up in the forest preserve at the top of the street), but it made you dependent. You had to wander far and explore to find what you needed.

I love Brooklyn, New York. Yes, you need to drive to get to Costco's, but where else can you live where people from Manhattan take a ferry boat to Brooklyn to go to the Ikea store! In my neighborhood of Park Slope, I walk everywhere. I have everything I need to survive within 4 blocks of the apartment: 2 dry cleaners, 4 bodegas, chinese/thai/italian/diner/pita/american/bagel food, a hospital, a post office, a video store, an office supply store, 2 pharmacies, 2 Opticians, a liquor store, a car service, a jeweler, an ice cream store, a bar and access to 3 subway lines in case I need to go anywhere. Hmmm...maybe my life in Park Slope doesn't force me to wander far or explore. Have I become dependent in an entirely different way?

Watching Your Feet

Have you ever watched children when they first learn to walk? They watch their feet. I suppose it's part of being amazed that they can be used for something more than kicking. But I wonder if it's also part of being cautious. If you watch your feet while you walk, you tend to walk more slowly and intentionally. Most of us look down when we're walking down stairs. But we don't look down when we walk around in life. Why? Are we not worried about falling?

When children start walking they begin slowly...watching their feet.

Then they gain momentum and begin moving faster and faster... they look up, begin giggling with enthusiasm and then...crash!

Up again...watch the feet...slowly...a little faster...faster...giggle...look up...laugh...engage everyone around them with eye contact...crash!

I think there's a lesson here. I think we were meant to walk slowly...and watch our feet. But we're human and we love to move fast and laugh and experience the thrill...and the crash.