Having friends is a very good thing. We just need to be sure they are actual friends – a friend is someone who helps you be the best person you can be – and that we are being friends to them. Relationships in which we are guided to be a lesser self, anything less than who we truly are at our core, at our best, are not the ones to maintain. But it is truly great to find true friends.
Thank you, God, for love and for friends. Thank you. Help us to grow in your love and fulfill your will. Keep us safe and well, please. Help me to be well and to sleep well in all desired circumstances. In your name, I pray. Amen.
We went to the Priests versus Seminarians basketball game tonight. It was at Rice University, in their basketball gymnasium, and the place was pretty close to sold out. This was the seventh year of the game’s history, and I was beyond excited to be there for it this time. Ever since I first heard about it, I wanted to go. This year, I finally made it happen.
Essentially, as I understand it, it is both a fundraiser for and awareness-raiser for St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston. It let’s people know about the seminary, while also raising funds for it in a very fun way. The current seminarians form a basketball team to play a single game against local priests, those who have already gone through seminary, be it at St. Mary’s or elsewhere. The first two years, the priests won. The next four years, the seminarians won. Tonight, the priests won. And not by only a few points.
The final score – and yes, that was a big lead, given how they started with a 7:1 follow at the end of the first quarter.
No, they were nothing like the March Madness games my husband had me watching just recently. Not even close. These are priests and future priests, not upper teenagers trying to get into the NBA. We were not here for mad skills, but for the fun of seeing seemingly very serious folks do something very fun and, well, normal. The first quarter ended with a combined score of eight points. These were not exactly future pros here – they definitely discerned rightly in their vocations (and in a career that makes a massive difference in a good way in society, so a big thank you to all of these guys for that!).
Seeing them play at all was already a treat. When they had really warmed up and the pressure was on in the second half, though, it was actually a very entertaining game as a game. It was just extra-impressive at that point, given that some of them, as my husband pointed out, did rather look as though they may never have played basketball [or any other sport, for that matter] a day in their lives. At least, not in their adult lives. Again, sports aren’t exactly their focus in the post-seminary life.
Nonetheless, it ended up being very fast-paced and exciting by the last quarter. At every point throughout the game, the whole place went wild, anyway. When points were happening so quickly near the end, it was like a constant up and down of screams and cheers. Plus, everyone cheered for everyone. Sure, folks cheered especially for their local priests or old fellow parishioner, but they all still cheered for every point. And like it was the greatest basket ever made. It was hilarious, really, and totally wonderful. And they actually played a good and athletically entertaining game. It was not hilarious because they were being funny. It was simply hilarious that everyone was on the same team, while officially having two separate teams. Plus, Inhave never before tonight seen a basketball game where no one gets angry… where everyone plays with authenticity… It was… awesome.
At the end, they all did a group picture together and were hugging and having a great time with each other. They really were and are all on the same team.
Also, being Catholic, the invocation at the start was the coolest thing I may have every experienced with prayer. The priest says, ‘Let us pray,’ and the entire population did the sign of the cross in synch, and most of them said a hearty “Amen” to go with it. It was like choreography for the masses. Very, cool and slightly spooky in the best way.
Thank you, God, for this blessing tonight. I am so grateful to have been present for such a wonderful event. Help it to continue to grow vocations in our local society, and help me to be a part of that. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Tomorrow, I am letting some kids make up work during the morning break – while I have breakfast at school – and then meeting with my other class that I didn’t see in the schedule today. I likely will have lunch after that, possibly work out, then go home and not come back for a week and a half.
And that will be very good for me.
I still have to sort out and post all of their assignments for while I’m not there, but I will have an hour to do that before I have class and after the make-ups. So, that should be enough time to get it all handled. I also have the time in class, when they’ll be taking their test. I’d forgotten that that is also usable time for me. Hmm. Thanks for that reminder(!).
Anyway, I have work to do in the morning for school, and then I will be able to come home and do the work I need to do here, both for my home and for myself, all for our healing and stepping forward into the life we want to be leading going forward.
I am still stressed, but I am also somewhat excited.
Thank you, God, for this opportunity for healing and accomplishments. Help me to do them both effectively this next week and a half, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.
I went to a wedding with my mom. It consistently reminded me both of how grateful I am for my husband and of how good of a job I did on our wedding and reception.
It also made me want to be better with my husband – for our relationship with each other to be much more love-centered and love-present than it has been for a while. We can be much better than we have been.
God, help us in this, please. Help us both to heal, and to heal with one another, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.
The appointment went well. I had to have blood drawn, but she didn’t tell me about it until the very end, so I was able to be calm about it until the last seven minutes or so before it actually happened. And that was a good way to have it for me!
As far as the rest of it all goes, it was mostly very good news, plus a touch of slightly annoying but expected and totally fair news. A good outcome so far.
Now, I just am waiting for the blood test results. I hope they are clean and clear and under control, so life may proceed freely again.
Thank you for the good experience this morning with the doctor. Thank you for letting me make my last class, so I can still get paid something for the day. Please, make the balance bike safe and effective for Grace. Help us to tidy everything well tomorrow morning and to have a great crawfish bloom tomorrow afternoon. Also, please, help to heal W. Please. Bring him back to you fully, please, that he may truly heal and become who you call him to be. In your name, we pray. Amen.
Well, I scheduled an appointment today. It seemed absurdly irrelevant, given that it was so far into the future and was about something that just happened. I said as much after the call ended. Within ten minutes, however, I had a call back from the office. ‘The doctor said to squeeze you in tomorrow. Can you do that?’ No, I didn’t want to risk missing the whole day of school and not getting paid – that would turn a $40/$80 appointment into a $240/$280 appointment. But I also need to have the appointment, and kind of asap. So, this is the only option if I want it handled now.
I begrudgingly accepted the appointment.
My mom adjusted her schedule to go with me. I am grateful. I am nervous about the whole thing, as I care very much about what might come of it. I just hope it all goes well and all is safe and good, and I make it to school in time still to get paid for the day.
God, help me to heal and to earn money to care for my family well financially, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.
I’ve shared with a handful of co-workers at this point, and that ha scariest helped immensely. I’m still craggy and pissed off at regular life at school each day, but it helps, nonetheless.
I’ve started actually typing out a list of all the crap with which I have been dealing with my job this year, all the unfairness. I’ve reached out for contributions from my mom and husband, as well was a co-worker who has been there to hear it all and help me through a lot of it throughout the year so far. I think I’ll ask another coworker for his input, too, tomorrow. Then, once I’ve gathered all the points, I’ll put them in order and in a letter, and send a printed and a digital copy to the principal early next week, I guess. If I am granted the requested meeting with him sooner than that, then I will have it ready to hand him in that meeting. Whatever the case, my points will be communicated and documented, and I can move forward complete on it all, having been in clear communication.
Anyway, though I’m really relieved about that, I’m still utterly exhausted. All this emotion and all this lack of sleep has been especially tough this week.
And I really miss the dog. I miss the future we were living into, becoming a family of four. Now, we are a hopeful but woeful family of two. My husband is my dreams come true, of course. But the rest of this has been sacrificial suffering, without our understanding the ultimate goal of the suffering, which has made it al the harder.
Nonetheless, I am exhausted, and so I am going to sleep now. Getting closer and closer to being in bed when I truly want to be these days(!). So, yay for that(!). 9:30 lights out tonight.
Thank you, God, for the home and bed and husband. Amen.
Our dog is still dying. My husband thinks she’ll be stubborn and hold on as long as possible. I’m hoping and praying that she’ll let go in her sleep… and tonight would be great for that, because she is just so clearly falling apart and struggling at this point. The vet said she has numbers “off the chart” for her kidneys, which means big time kidney failure, which means her body is, basically, filling with toxins and, I guess, killing her from the inside…? Whatever the case, it sounds dreadful and she is a sad sight to behold whenever she tries to go anywhere.
She did wander around both the back and front yards today, though, and for a good chunk of the day. All willingly.
But she also just kind of toppled over several times, and she looked like she was about to topple over almost the entire time.
She clearly loves my husband very much, and shows it still. She likes me, too, but nowhere near the same as she likes him.
We both love her, and this is hard for us, seeing how hard it is for her.
God, help her to find ease and comfort, please. Release her of this burden and grant her your peace, please, and by your hand. In your name, I pray. Amen.
hannah ananas 