Roamin’ Catholic

Already off to a better start…

15 MAR 2009 – 1 mile

16 MAR 2009 – 2.25 miles

17 MAR 2009 – 1.25 miles

18 MAR 2009 –  2 miles

19 MAR 2009 –  0 miles

20 MAR 2009 –  0 miles

21 MAR 2009 –   0 mile 

6.5 miles Total this week

42 miles Total to date (958 to go)

But kind of a weak finish…  At this rate, I’ll cover about 300 miles this year… But I’ve been busy!

First of all, I had a job.  Even though I’m technically on sabbatical, I was glad to accept an opportunity to work with a group in west Michigan called the 529 Collective.  GREAT people.  They are working on forming intentional community, and have quite a little groove coming together.  Let me know if you want to connect with them.

I gave an all day training on Egalitarian Decision Making, and it was a lot of fun.  Joshua went with me, and we stayed at an excellent inn.  Although it was great fun, (and I wasn’t kidding when I said I would come back for free if they just fed me) I’m glad my sabbatical is until June.  I’m already getting too busy, and pushing too hard, and feeling it.

I’ve also been trying to work my way through a little FB (face book) problem…  I tried joining a support group only to discover that it was just another FB group ["I'm too old for FB, but I can't stop - it's like crack"].  But it actually does have me in it’s grip – I just love chatting with all my friends and staying in so many loops!  Addictive indeed.  I think we’re going to have to impose a daily on-line time limit on Mom, and probably no FB on the weekends – I’ll let you know what we come up with.

Lastly, I do have something to share about my walk.  I’ve started to see people differently.  Literally.  I’m assuming this is fruit borne from my meditation…  maybe I’m just catching on to what all the wise people I know have been telling me about all these years.  I think what I’m seeing are people’s souls, or spirits, or more precisely – people as they are.  This is not nearly as remarkable, or mystical as it sounds.  It’s kind of like staring at the “hidden pictures” page for a while and then suddenly you see the shovel, and you can’t ‘un-see’ it.  The shovel was there the whole time, but you could only see the picture the way you’re expecting to see it.  For example, I was getting Veronica from preschool one morning, and I saw an older woman leaving a service, walking with a cane, leaning on a companion for assistance.  But when I looked, and only a little more closely, I saw her.  It was as if all of her ‘hidden pictures’ were suddenly revealed.  She wasn’t shining or radiating white light or anything like that, I could just see what had always been there- and now here’s the remarkable part- somehow, and I have no explanation of this except what my faith has taught me, I knew her.  Yeah, yeah, maybe I knew her from my parish or something, yadda, yadda, yadda.  Nope.  Never seen her before in my life.

This keeps happening, and I keep thinking it’s someone I know from – school, work, back home, church, an old job… but none of them are.  They’re just people walking down the street, and I’m seeing them and recognizing them.  At first I thought I was just false recognizing people who resembled other people I ‘actually’ knew.  Then I saw Isaac, my teenager.  He’s always been a handsome child, but suddenly one day, I just saw him, and wow!  I haven’t been able to get angry at him the same way since.

Don’t get me wrong- I’m still holding quarters for a lot of anger.  And Isaac is wobbling through adolescence- he still gets on my nerves.  But something of that rage that you get sometimes… (you know what I’m talking about – when you just boil over and start screamin’ and smackin’, and you’re embarrassed later to even admit that was you)  I don’t feel that anger with him anymore.

Peace and all good.  Will write more next week.