The Sacrament of the Present Moment

My retirement officially began two years ago. Friends repeatedly asked what I had planned for retirement and I repeatedly said that I had no plan. I wanted to just have the joy of each fresh day to take me anywhere it wanted to go. And the days have not disappointed. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing friends of my parents and aunt from the old days. These three women never married and had been career women. They traveled extensively and are as vibrant in their 80's as they were in their 30's. One of them called me a few weeks ago saying that she came across a letter written by my grandfather back in 1964 and thought I would like to see it. Out of nowhere an unexpected treasure! I can not even describe the feelings I had yesterday holding that letter he wrote to them all those years ago. Reading it I was able to feel his sense of humor and conjure up an image of him smiling as he wrote it. So we sat and broke bread and laughed and cried sharing all our collective memories of those who are no longer here. We acknowledged the blessings we have received through this life long friendship and how good it was to gather together again and remember. And I was fed in more ways than one. And I received Eucharist in the sacrament of the present moment.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pajamas

This weekend I spent time with an old friend that I had worked with while I struggled to put myself through college. We were travel agents and also traveled together. Being with her again after 30 some years in between reminded me that keeping in touch with friends who knew you when you were young is really, really important. Especially as you get really, really old. So I offer my top ten reasons for keeping friends close to your heart.

1. Friends help piece together past experiences and memories and bring them to the present.
2. Friends remember who you were before the world tried to rearrange you.
3. Friends can cry and laugh with you about those friends long gone.
4. Friends understand how you arrived at the present moment and what you went through to get here.
5. Friends reaffirm the belief that people really do not change that much over time.
6. Friends make you laugh at yourself and all your ridiculousness.
7. Friends eat your meals and say they taste wonderful even when it's not really true.
8. Friends will take car rides to any where with you.
9. Friends tell you how good you look even when it's not really true but in their eyes it is.
10. Friends stick with you through all the messiness of life and relationships and bless you with their presence in your life.

My friends have become my "sisterhood of the traveling pajamas" because no matter how far apart we live we will travel with pj's in hand to be together!

From San Miguel in the Azores

Today on June 5, 1903 my grandmother, Mary Constance Madeiros was born in Ponta Delgada on the island of San Miguel in the Portuguese Azores. Happy Birthday Nanny! I miss you everyday. Here are the top ten things I remember about you.
1. Your dimples when you flashed that gorgeous smile of yours.
2. Your beautiful wavy, shiny silver hair.
3. Your kind brown eyes.
4. Your singing Portuguese rhymes and lullabyes to us.
5. Your jitterbugging in a night club when we were in Lisboa! Who knew.
6. Your devotion to your family.
7. Your celebration style for all holidays making them more than special.
8. Your helping me through adolescent heart breaks.
9. Your joie de vivre despite all the hardships you endured.
10. Your amazing life!

Now that I am a grandmother, I hope that I can be for my grandchildren what you were for me. Love and prayers always Nan.

A Feel Good Poem

Posted the other day on NPR Writer's Almanac. This poem just plain makes me feel good every time I read it.

Daffodils

by William Wordsworth

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

"Daffodils" by William Wordsworth. Public domain.

Where is the church Christ envisioned?

During his days on earth Jesus spent time with the marginalized. He was approachable. He ate and drank and dialogued with the people. He was humble. He showed compassion and mercy. He preached a message of love. He was a devout Jew who came to challenge the rigidity and inflexibility of religious zealotry when it became blindsided to the needs of the people. Jesus was so unlike the current Roman Catholic Church which remains rigid, inflexible and blindsided in its religious fervor and zealotry while its people suffer from lack of spiritual leadership. Where is the community that Jesus envisioned?