Back From Mass

Friday morning Carmen and I left the precious (evil) kitties with a twice daily visiting juggler named John. We drove (she drove, I navigated, as is our custom) nine hours to tornado ravaged western Massachusetts for the ordination of Misty Dawn, our friend since early Andover Newton Theological School daze five or six years ago. We stayed with her and her wife Jenna Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, helping out with tasks (I word-processed and printed twenty six signs for pews reserved for visiting clergy, family members, choir etc.) and running errands.

Sunday we took care of the dogs while they were involved in church biz for morning services and preparations for the afternoon ordination. Then we drove to Northboro for the ordination. It was a beautiful service and celebration by her home church in Brookfield and her internship church in Northboro. Carmen did the Ordination Prayer and the Laying On Of Hands. The two choirs combined and sang beautifully, but the musical highlight was when four multi-congregational singers and a guitar performed "Down To The River To Pray," a goose bump moment.

So our friend Misty Dawn is now our friend Reverend Misty Dawn.

Early this morning (Monday) we left and came home, stopping only for gas, food and a major shopping trip in Erie, since we were coming through there anyway. It's been about four or five months since we stocked up in Erie. And don't tell anyone, but we bought a 32 inch TV for the living room. After Jenna's 55 inch all weekend, it was just too hard to think about watching our tiny little 19 inch HD television.

Anyway, we're back now, the kitties are well, and so are we.

Lame Update

This blogging thing seems to be quite beyond my capacity. It's been more than two weeks since my last post, and the only urges I've felt are motivated by pangs of guilt over my apparent inability to keep it up. I'm reminded of the late sixties and early seventies when I had a string of - what shall I call them? - Diaries? Journals? Record books? For days, weeks, sometimes months at a time I wrote down the events of the day. For years I was glad to have them, because when I or anybody else wondered when something happened, or tried to remember some detail of a significant event, I often had an account of it in my book. Not always, however. For instance, my best friend Michael's wedding happened during one of the many long dry spells. I had a book for 1973, but the wedding didn't get even a mention. Then, in 1974, I gave away, sold or threw away almost everything I owned, and after a long soul-searching, the diaries went in the dumpster - 1967 - 1974 gone.

Is that going to be my final solution thirty seven years later? I don't even know if it'd possible to obliterate a blog. I know I can delete posts, but would there still be an empty shell left behind if I stripped the guts out of it? So far I don't feel compelled to find out, but it could come to that. I have two copies in book form of The Gospel of Rand McNally, maybe I should try it on that one. For a while it was many people's favorite of the three, but the stories are pretty much written now. Occasionally I tack on another one, but its raison d'etre is spent. The Business of Show still
has about five years worth of stories to come - if I ever feel motivated to write them.

Motivation to write is hard to come by. In the beginning there were a lot of stories to tell and I had way too much time on my hands. Now it's a struggle to make myself write anything. Is it because I have nothing to say? Because I still think nobody cares whether I write or not? Because My time is spent on other pursuits?

Yes.