We have been having trouble with our landlord and facility in Westfield (St. Patrick’s) since we rented this facility about a year and a half ago. Like many things in life, we were treated like princes until we signed, and now it is as if we are imposing if we just ask for something that we should expect….like this week, that the back half of the facility would not be flooded with water for the leaking dishwasher at the restaurant next door.

Of course when we talked to the restaurant last week and they told us about the dishwasher, we had already called and notified our landlord via voicemail and email. I was at the church twice on Saturday to vacuum up water (disgusting) and did it every day I was in town too. We emailed and called and finally heard from him….he was out of the country and emailed us to let us know that we should deal with it. Of course we were dealing with it. A dinner and service on Sunday were ruined. And hiring a contractor for someone else to deal with a problem that really was in another tenant’s business seemed seedy. First of all, we do not have the money to hire someone. Second, no one is going to do work with the promise that someone else will pay that they cannot talk to. And three, our history here is that we really cannot count on things to be as promised. Oh sure, our rent is always collected, but the place smelled like sewer gas for about 9 months. It still occasionally does. And the list of unanswered complaints is long. For instance, the handicap ramp has NEVER been fixed. It is a violation of law. Yet, complaints even like this fall on deaf ears.

We rent in a lot of places and have great relationships with all our landlords, but this one is putting our congregation here at risk. We have lost a lot of people because of this place and it is certainly not helping us to attract more. PLEASE KEEP ST. PATRICK’S IN YOUR PRAYERS. What we needed this week was MOSES to turn the wet into dry!!! Unfortunately we didn’t get any help from him, which is not new to us…..we don’t hear anything helpful from our landlord either.

I went next door to the restaurant tonight and talked with them again. They now act like they do not know anything about the leaky dishwasher they told us that was leaking on Sunday. It will be the last time I go in there, which is sad because it is my favorite. I did ask them if they heard from our landlord, and they said no…..so he, even by email or phone did nothing to get this resolved. So Deacon PT and I moved chairs and Altar stuff to my house so we will jam everyone in here in the morning. We will be tight, very tight, but we will be able to have church AND the dinner. It may not be as roomy but it doesn’t smell like wet drywall and old water….and it is dry. The health department and building inspector will be notified and will invited for a visit. It should never EVER have to come to this, because we liked it there…..but worshipping in a swamp is only suitable for frogs!

Please add this to your prayers! Regardless of its outcome, this has damaged our ministry here. Please pray for it to heal and regenerate.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Getting home at midnight on a day you started at 5:30am isn’t all that fun, but everything in between certainly was. I will not bore you with the details of my work but I will say we had a very successful night in Bloomington playing the Bloomington Outlaws. They are a new team in the league, but like all the teams in their first year, they are required to only play JV games. And since JV games have no bearing on the standings, many teams do not play them.

I however am a little different. It really is hard to break into things and be competitive if you cannot get the games. So in a conversation with their coach a few weeks ago, I offered to bring down not just a JV squad but the entire Lady Millers team….every player, V and JV. And in addition to that we played two full games. Sure, we won both, but Bloomington will be a force to reckon with SOON. Their coach was an All American the first year I coached and I remember her. She had these girls hopping (not literally, that would look quite stupid). I also invited her team up just after the season to scrimmage us and maybe a neighboring high school too. Helping them raises the bar for all of us and it is good for the sport and the players!

But now, at the end of the day I am bushed….frankly we all are. It has been a good day for lacrosse! We have a few days off now to nurse some injuries and and get some rest. But as for me, I am off to join those already asleep! And to be honest, I cannot wait!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yes….it was the 1970’s and I was thin! Imagine my surprise to find this picture on Facebook posted by an old teammate Joe Ruppe. It is my senior year, and even my posture is good. I will not share with you which one I am till a later post, but I do welcome your guesses. I will however give one hint of my own choice……I am not the one in the skirt, though I, and probably every other guy on the team but her brother thought she was wonderful……but again, it is not me!

Oddly enough, I did not go to Penn High School. The team a few years before was actually called Penn-Mishawaka, but all the MHS guys must have disappeared for a few years so it just became Penn. It didn’t matter though, because we were all just guys with a passion…..we loved ice hockey. And it brings back many good memories to see a picture like this and reminisce.

I do not remember all the details of back then, but what I do remember is what a great group of guys this was. Hockey is probably less a sport and more like a fraternity in terms of the relationships you have with other players. Many of us came to high school hockey after years of play in the IYHL (Irish Youth Hockey League – at Notre Dame), but all of us spent every winter out on our streets and in flooded backyards with our sticks. The street hockey scene from the movie “Wayne’s World” is dead-on realistic. You play until a car comes, vacate the rink, and then get on after it passed. We never had nets in the neighborhood because we couldn’t afford them, but we always played. What great times!

Anyway, I am so thankful for this gift. It was great to remember and it made me smile. The perfect type of blessing with which to end a great day (because we won two tonight!)

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I was on my way to Peoria, Illinois where we will be planting a church over the summer when I wrote my blog last night from a hotel in Bloomington, Illinois (where I also intend to plant a church). I had forgotten my sleep apnea machine, which I need not because I have had a stroke, but because I do not want another, after all, I have sleep apnea….and mine is pretty severe, particularly post-stroke.

As a matter of fact, I do not have a C-PAP machine, I have what is called a Bi-PAP. A Bi-PAP machine looks almost identical to a C-PAP, but a Bi-PAP machine cuts down the pressure when you exhale, and is made for people like me who need the pressure of an F-16 to keep their airways open. But I have a real and evident handicap in all of this, in that I AM A GUY, and I was too stubborn to turn around and drive back and get it. In retrospect that was a mistake.

I was actually up most of the night, not because I couldn’t sleep, but because I was waking myself up constantly. I have a high prescription for air pressure, and without it I am apparently toast. I was not only miserable all night long, which was not the purpose of going out the night before today’s meetings (rest and being sharp was) I also woke up with a terrible sore throat from apparently gasping for air! My good friend Pastor Connie Thomson wrote me this morning on Facebook wanting to know, as Paul Harvey used to say, “The Rest of the Story,” which I replied that I had indeed survived the night……but there were times I wondered if that were indeed the best thing.

I am back home now, with Ben in my bed talking his brains out to me, and Amanda passed out from exhaustion on the other side. The big news is that my machine is next to me and ready to go. When I had my sleep studies they told me I had probably not entered real sleep in years. I can tell it has been a couple of days…..I will resolve that problem in just a second.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

One of the things I have come to grips with is my ability to do things I used to do when I was younger, and how I do them as a bit older, and especially post stroke.

As an example, when my Monday meeting was scheduled for a hotel conference room by O’Hare in Chicago, I made the decision to fly. Driving back and forth in the same day would make the day close to 20+ hours of concentration, which I can certainly do if I am not doing anything like DRIVING in heavy traffic during the latter part. But the reality is that I would have not been my best after the long drive, nor would I have done well on the way home. Trips like that usually end up seeing me sleep for about 24 hours straight after I get home. So all this is to say that flying was the best choice.

But even with that I was home just before midnight and exhausted. I made myself get up and get things done all day. I then packed, and drove to a JV game in Indianapolis that we won handily (24-7) and then headed to first Champaign, and then Bloomington, Illinois to scout locations to plant churches. I meet the Bishop in the morning at 11 in Peoria to meet with some people helping to plant there. He and I will then drive back to Indiana where he will stay the night at our house before leaving Thursday.

But in all the confusion and busy-ness, I left without my apnea machine. It is the first night I have ever been without it post-stroke, and I have it quite simply so I will not have another. AND it unnerves me to be thinking about sleeping without it. My prescription is quite high, and though it seems odd to say that I sleep with a pretty strong stream of air being pumped into me, in reality it is true….and I worry about not having it. I cause myself to wake up about every minute (I am considered severe) so the morning will be the judge. If I have a rough night, I will not dream and will be exhausted. But if I am not dead, I suppose I will consider it a victory!

So off to bed I go! Actually I am already there. I need the air, but will not miss the mask. I usually wear it every night and tell Amanda that I look like an astronaut, though she is not buying it. I just hope and pray I do okay. Keep me in your prayers…..it really does make me nervous.

Goodnight from the Comfort Suites in Bloomington, Illinois and God Bless!

Tommy+

Okay, in retrospect it probably wasn’t a good idea, but as my wife would tell you, many of mine aren’t anyway. You see, I have been in Chicago all day where I flew to attend a meeting with our bishop and other leaders from our region who are all pretty great guys……two of whom I probably should apologize to in this blog for potentially getting us arrested in an international gate.

You see, three of us, Fr. Boysel, Fr. Kannapell and myself, rode the shuttle back to the airport after our meeting, went through security, and with about an hour till the first one’s flight decided to get a beer (of course I don’t drink beer, so I had a wine) and because there were no seats in the restaurant, they gave us “to go” cups (after all it is Chicago) and we walked just a few feet to the adjacent international gate to sit and talk.

But that’s when I saw her, and my oh my was she beautiful. It wasn’t that I had been away from home since 5 in the morning, or because I was lonely or tired, it was that she was cute, playful, and a girl in uniform. Who could resist? And that’s why I snapped a picture of her with my cell phone.

Of course that was what attracted the attention of the DEA officers. Did you know that it is illegal to snap a picture of them? But that cutie was THEIR DOG, who apparently just got done sweeping the plane heading to Germany, (so she was not only cute, but a specialist) but the picture also captured her handler and the officers around them, so I was told to produce my phone, display the pictures, and then erase it in front of the officer, which I promptly did. Three priests, a drink for each, and an illegal picture of a dog would have certainly made a great jail house story, and a pretty good joke, but because Fr. Joe’s flight was drawing near I made sure I did what I was asked.

The good news is that DEA agents, like most of the fine men and women who stand in harm’s way on our behalf, are pretty great folks, and this group was no exception. I was allowed to take a picture of the dog, which was all I wanted in the first place, but the other agents kept blocking the shots. So she posed, and I made sure she was the only one in the shot. And then I cropped it again at home, twice, to make sure I didn’t violate federal law. These folks are not just law enforcement, but they are heroes too, and they will always get my respect.

Goodnight from home my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

My kids are weirdos, all of them, and sadly for them I have the pictures to prove it. (see photo evidence) Every time I see them acting all mature (Stephanie and Scott) I think, “wow, this is the very same kid I have the incriminating weirdo pictures of.” Of course Stephanie and Scott have had it easier. Ben, like tonight in the picture, is often blog-fodder. The older kids were not as truthfully exposed due to the lack of an appropriate medium.

What I want to assure you of however is that deep down they are all the same. Even Stephanie, in all her seriousness and academic prowess, has the deep dark blessing of the Tirman sense of humor and weirdness. You see to us Tirmans it is really a badge of honor, a genetic marker of our DNA, and it is what makes being a Tirman such a blast. There is no time I laugh harder than around my family.

With that, I should say that many people have asked me about my diet, and though I thought about it, at the last minute decided to post this picture rather than the one of me shirtless in a cowboy hat. They really look kind of the same, but my hat is nicer and diaper is not as small, but so you know I am still at the diet and about half way to my goal.

Anyway, the youngest Tirman cowboy is ready for his bath. He has been walking around with his feet in two plastic fish bowls telling us they are really ice skates, but we know better because Steph already tried to fool us with that trick just last week. But I will finish up so I can send him off skating towards the tub. I have a flight for Chicago that I need to leave the house at 5am to make, and I would like to send him to bed smelling great rather than stinky. Cowboys can be fun, and Amanda loves hers, but she will love him more smelling like baby shampoo. Let’s just hope we can get that fish smell off his feet.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Today, the day after prom, we went u to Culver Academy to play the undefeated Culver Eagles…..who incidentally remained undefeated all day. It was a day that we just did not have it, and although we could hardly get a call going our way, in sports that really doesn’t matter…..you play the hand you are dealt. And we were dealt a loss.

We entered the game 4th in the state, and have been going up and down all week as games are reported. The number one team we lost to earlier by just 1 goal, our only loss up till today, and to be honest I was certain we had a pretty good chance. We immediately went up by two, but began to fall apart as son as they started scoring. And nothing bothers a coach more than a team that panics when another team starts gaining.

Sadly, we didn’t seem to recover from that first loss and then got clocked by the #9 team (at least this morning #9) It was a bad day, and really not reflective of the team we can be. Our ranking will drop drastically tomorrow and though it will be hard to swallow, it reflects where we should be. You earn your right to the top, it is not handed to you. And starting the day at #4 means nothing if you do not play well enough to back it up.

Of course the team will be out on the field on Monday afternoon with Coach Gunter and she will drill them on the fundamentals we seemed to lack today. (I will be in Chicago) But even though we played below our level today, we will have quite a few chances to make up for it in the weeks to come. We have beaten two of our three regional rivals, and if we can beat the other two we can claim the top seed in the Regional. We are the defending regional champs, which of course means nothing unless you win, but I believe wholeheartedly that we will be again too. It will require some digging in though.

Anyway, I have to get ready for tomorrow. It will be a long day, but there will be no games! I need a break from the day.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Yep, tonight Stephanie went to her last prom, and we once again were there for pictures. Each year I get a picture taken with a group of my lacrosse players, and tonight it was with 5 of my 7 Seniors. It is always odd to see them this way. Normally they are all in uniforms or workout gear, with killer looks on their faces, trying to win games. Tonight they are just girls, heading to their last high school prom.

Oddly enough, all these girls and a team of others will meet me in Culver, Indiana to play two top ten teams in the morning. My guess is they will be tired…..BUT, they will be in their familiar uniforms and cleats. No heals, just athletes with a gritty determination to win a couple of important games.

Tonight I hope they have fun….especially Stephanie and the other seniors. I have enjoyed watching many of them grow up, and they are a fine group of girls. Keep them in your prayers though. These games tomorrow would be challenging even if they all went to bed early. Staying out late just makes it a harder day. They are remarkable young women though. I am sure they are up to the challenge!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

I am not sure how I got here, but I am glad to be home. It seemed days ago when I got up this morning. I woke up early in order to head Indianapolis to do a hospital visit downtown. From that point I became the most well-traveled priest in Indiana…….finishing up with the lacrosse team for a game against HSE (which we won V but lost JV) before arriving here at home around 10pm.

The nice part is that the day is done….I think. I am sure there is something I am forgetting, but with Amanda asleep, I will not need to find out until tomorrow. It has been a tough day though. I have had a lot of confusion all day, and rather than trying to push myself to write something insightful or witty, I think I just need to call it a day. I am already well beyond my limit, and the blessing of it all is that I know it…

Goodnight my friends, my apologies, and God Bless!

Tommy+