THOUGHTS

Thank GOD it's over! As Big J would say, I had "duty" this weekend. It was my weekend to preach at the three masses at Holy Name of Mary church. Linda says I'm pretty good, but I stress, big time, every month when my turn comes around. I've never been good at standing up in front of people to speak, and when you add to that what I consider to be a HUGE responsibility to take the readings of the day and get some theme or idea from them to try and make relevant to the congregation, it is super stressful! And, I deliver my homilies in front of not just our parishioners, but also my family, who are quite aware of my human faults and failings, yet listen patiently as I exhort them, myself, and others to try to be more perfectly Christian in our lives.

H1/DIL1 came in for the weekend. As always it was a HUGE (hmmm... that's the second time I've used HUGE in this blog...) boost for H2 to see his bro and sis-in-law! Friday evening they drove in and the rest of the family met them at Deanie's in Bucktown. We all got there around 8:15 or so. The place was PACKED. We had an hour wait, with about 33 people ahead of us.

Let me just say that Deanie's is NOT my favorite place to eat. I went there for lunch with a coworker maybe three or four years ago and, after being seated immediately (the place was pretty empty at 11AM), it still took over 1/2 hour to get someone to take our order, and we had been there 1 1/2 hours before we got our food!! I vowed that I would NEVER eat there again, and have kept that vow up to now.

Now, I dont't know, maybe because I was already stressing about my upcoming homily, God took pity on me. Deanie's in Bucktown is just around the corner from one of my FAVORITE eating establishments, New Orleans Food & Spirits. While waiting for our turn at Deanie's we decided to stroll over to NOFS and see what the wait would be there. Although it, too, looked jam packed, the hostess said she could seat us in 15 minutes!! Thank you, JESUS!!!

We ate at NOFS, and my blacklist of Deanie's in Bucktown (not to be confused with De-anie's on Haynes) remains intact.

Bubba, that is, Major Dad, goes to Baton Rouge all week for schooling. Please pray for a safe and successful trip and a safe return to DLG and the kids. Also, please pray for DLG, the mother of a certain 14 year old who's teenage hormones are beginnign to kick in, complicated by the fact that he is an extremely bright young man who's art of reasoning (arguing??) is quite good.

Oh, by the way, I had a visit with the wound care nurse and IDD at Oschner on Friday. She said my "hole" is about the size of a pinhead and should be completely closed within the next two weeks!! Praise God! Thank you ALL for your prayers and support over the past several months.

Linda is calling me so I'd better wrap it up... I'll close with my message to the congregation at HNM this weekend. Everything we have, do, are, is a gift from God. It is our obligation as Christians to share those gifts, whatever they might be, with the rest of God's children... our families, friends, neighbors, but especially those in need, the homeless, the sick, the lonely.

Take care and God bless!!