Skip to main content
I tend to say exactly what I think. I admit it's not always wise. I try hard not to speak in anger, because when you speak from anger, you're more motivated to hurt than to tell the truth in love. I digress. I took a big risk today, although it was less than direct. I hope I've built up enough trust here; I'm just not good at denial. It wasn't a rebuke, or anything.
Returning to the digression, sometimes the truth hurts a person anyway, and there's not a whole lot you can do. Maybe it could have been a simple matter of saying, 'I'm just not comfortable here' way sooner. Because you'd rather be the one to say you've hit the limit of your abilities as a friend than them. One is liable to be pretty hurt and take it all very personally if that happens. Not that I would know.
It was an interesting weekend. I stayed with my 'brother' Evan and his wife Stacey. Stacey's sister threw a party for Cinco de Mayo, and it was awesome. We should have known that a horse named, "Thanks, I'll Have Another"--ridden by a Mexican--would win the Kentucky Derby on Cinco de Mayo, no? As a man who always has the radar operating, (let the reader understand) I can tell you that aside from our host, there were 2 ladies I would not have minded spending a great deal of time with. The first, we'll call her 'Laurie,' definitely didn't get left out of the sale at the Beauty Store. Ahem. But she has a boyfriend in another state, and she hates U2. That's like 8 strikes. She didn't strike me as my type, whatever that means.
Well, the other, she doesn't get a name. We're already friends, whatever that means. I talked to her all night. Of course I did. She chatted people up, I'd like to think, so it didn't look like she was only talking to me. Well, she's also kind. [She could be reading this, idiot.--ed.] I don't care. Tim said essentially, "What are you waiting for, moron?" I don't know. I'm scared, duh.
Evan actually asked me about it the next morning. He only met her that one time. I'm not sure what that says, except that I'm blatantly obvious, and my brother knows me. I talked to 'Tbone' later that day, too. He wanted to tease me about worrying that I offended him, because a comment of mine was deleted from his blog. I needn't have worried, but then again, you never know how much leeway you really have.
Evan and Stacey taught me that card game, Magic: The Gathering. On the one hand, I'm free enough that I don't worry that someone or something is occultic by the mere mention of wizards and monsters. On the other hand, people who are really into the story behind the game might be in danger. I really should ask Bishop Herman about this. I don't want to be a stick in the mud, but I don't want to be possessed by demons, either.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Thoughts On The Harrison Butker Commencement Speech

Update: I read the whole thing. I’m sorry, but what a weirdo. I thought you [Tom Darrow, of Denver, CO] made a trenchant case for why lockdowns are bad, and I definitely appreciated it. But a graduation speech is *not* the place for that. Secondly, this is an august event. It always is. I would never address the President of the United States in this manner. Never. Even the previous president, though he deserves it, if anyone does. Thirdly, the affirmations of Catholic identity should be more general. He has no authority to propound with specificity on all matters of great consequence. It has all the hallmarks of a culture war broadside, and again, a layman shouldn’t speak like this. The respect and reverence due the clergy is *always due,* even if they are weak, and outright wrong. We just don’t brush them aside like corrupt Mafia dons, to make a point. Fourthly, I don’t know where anyone gets the idea that the TLM is how God demands to be worshipped. The Church doesn’t teach that. ...

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...