All posts by Fr Tom Tirman

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Put a tiger in your tank………

This is what happens when Scott and his girlfriend Lizzie take Ben to the zoo…..he comes back as a different species. Well, no really. When I asked Ben if he was a tiger now, he said “no.” But as he explained it, he was really some sort of “Tiger Luke Skywalker” who apparently is sometimes “the evil Luke.” Oh yes, the boy has some problems! Thank God however that he is cute.

But late in the day the identity-confused tiger, his siblings and I met for dinner. Amanda often takes them out for dinner together when I am gone, mostly because Scotty loves seafood and I am allergic. So they go someplace they can get that. I however wanted to do that myself, sans the seafood of course…..so we went to Applebees (no shirt, no shoes, no service…..but tigers allowed) It was a great time too. I can see why she does it.
Now however, the countdown begins……we have just a little less than 48 hours to clean the house! No Tiger moms to motivate us here……Amanda is actually quite nice. But is she returns to the house in this condition, we are sure to see the Mommy Bear!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Hitting Home….

It was pretty hard for me to read that Peter Falk had died. He also had Alzheimer’s like my mom, which made it even harder. Yes, I am a big fan of Columbo, and although that was my biggest Peter Falk admiration point, in my later years I was happy also to see him in one of my favorite movies…..”The Princess Bride.”

In all honesty, he most probably has been a non-intentional model for my life. He was all disheveled and seemingly unorganized. He never looked or acted like he knew what was going on. His character was disarming, and it allowed people around him to feel superior and then almost granted them permission to be careless, which they often did.
But his character comes from a school that I grew up in, the one where people never puff themselves up. They don’t talk about how wonderful they are, or how much they know, or all that they have accomplished, they just live life. It reminded me a lot of many of the veterans I have met from the great World Wars. Many are heroes (although ALL of them are in my book) and many have seen things that would shock the hardest man……yet none speak of the details. They instead focus upon looking ahead in life. Sacrifice has no purpose if it does not make a difference in the future. Ultimately it is not about what we have accomplished as much is it is about how what we have done will effect what lies ahead.
Anyway, perhaps that is a bit more in depth into a character than any soul should be, but it was something that shaped me.
Thanks Columbo for catching my attention…Lord knows not a lot did in those days.
And oh yes…..just one more thing…….
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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IHOPPIN IT……and pretty much solo……

Well the house is once again pretty empty. I dropped Amanda off at the airport for a 5 day business trip to Belgium. Ben was asleep (a nap), Scott was at work, Cassie has headed back home to Missouri, and Steph was on her way out the door. If I wasn’t so good at talking to myself I would have been quite alone.

But after an hour Ben was up, and he and I were on our way to the Wal-Mart. He was quite put off too. He decided not to go with us to the airport, and seemed to communicate to his mom that he thought she was just going there and coming right back. Too bad for him that he was wrong. So he guilted her a bit on the phone and then as we were almost to the Wal-Mart he said, “Dad, why don’t we go to IHOP?” And we did.
Ben made up for his disappointment with eggs, pancakes, fruit, and hash browns (that he eats like they are fries). It is a good place for me to eat too as they have Egg Beaters on their diet menu. The picture was taken there and sent to his mom who got it while in between flights in Chicago. She was happy to get it, as Ben was all the food.
But the hard part is that he is wide awake, all jacked up from the meal, and I am home with him alone with a lot of work to do. Of course I have been here before and certainly can do all that I need to do in the morning when they are ALL asleep. In Latin the word for a Tirman child is “lazibuttes” or “lazibuttai” in the plural. All of them would sleep till noon if I didn’t make them get up. So tomorrow morning may be my best bet for uninterrupted work.
So I am off to scrub the syrup and whatever else is on Ben as he has been soaking in the tub the entire time I have been typing. Little boys can be a stinky lot, and I thought I would do this preemptive strike. He was however pretty sticky, so keep me in your prayers.
We have already survived over 8 hours! I may be old, but I intend to go the distance!!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Camping….in a lacrosse sort of way……

Well here they are…..10 of my players, who I drove up to Northwestern University for a four-day lacrosse camp. Northwestern has a ton of National Championships and the players and coaches run the clinic, so it s a big bang (not to be confused with scientific theory) for our buck.

I however was unsure about this group. They were quiet, well-behaved, and generally a bit “mousy” on the way up. There was no screaming, no stupid bus songs or Broadway tunes, and to be quite honest, it was the easiest and least stressful drive of my entire career…..church and non-church included. It, in fact, was pretty cool.
They have already texted me a few pictures and they seem like they are having fun. It is a great camp. And they will leave there better players, and not just that, but better players who want to be even better.
So my drive home was similar to my drive there….quiet. We will see how this goes. I am hoping to pick up 10 very enthused players again on Monday!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Remembering some history………

(I did a search for pictures for tonight’s blog and found NONE…other than this one. So this is IT! It is of Steph in HIGH SCHOOL from the Indianapolis Star!)

Had he not died in 1986, today would have been my grandpa’s 96th birthday. And to be very honest, I always believed he would be around this long. People in my family tend to live long and healthy lives…..thus, I was with my grandma (his wife) on Monday in Goshen. She is just 95!

But today is also the anniversary of my ordination, and I will not bore you with how many years it has been, but if you’d guess 22, you’d be right. I remember going in thinking how very cool and easy this will all be, and how I would light the world on fire. I still have the enthusiasm, but no longer the delusion. I have a lot of good years left, and much to accomplish, yet it has been challenging, if not down right hard a lot of the time.
BUT, I am thankful for the opportunity I have been given, as well as for this life I am living. Two of my sisters await me in heaven with my grandpa, although they probably are not awaiting my arrival with the same sense of anticipation of my grandpa. But I am sure they have SOME sense of desire to see me again, not quite minimal, but measurable.
Anyway, it has been a day of memories and fond ones at that. I would go back and do some things differently if I could, but life continues on before me.
Today however, I will not be bothered by such things, but I WILL remember the blessings.
It has been a good day. Happy Birthday Grandpa, if such things have meaning in heaven! And if they don’t, well then, they are still important to me!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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The First Day of Summer….well, almost………

One of the things about running behind is that you are behind…..and personally I hate that. Yet today, that is where I find myself, behind.

Of course the view from here is spectacular. I can see everything I needed to be doing right in front of me, and can even envision how wonderful it would have been to have it done. Oh no, I am not bitter about it, I am just frustrated. And it will take quite a bit of work tomorrow if I ever want to catch up at all.
Oh if I were just less intense! Or even just a bit! But alas, it is not meant to be……I will be scrambling tomorrow, in addition to heading to the dentist which I no longer find traumatic now that I no longer am an active ice hockey player. Well, I am active, just not on the ice any longer.
So tomorrow will be my official first as of SUMMER. And yes, I know that the 21st was the longest day, but I am going to PRETEND in a DELUSIONAL way!
Clearly, with all the stuff I need to do, I am going to need the extra time.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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Fixin er up………..

It seems I am an auto mechanic again, or at least a truck mechanic. One of the things about owning an old vehicle is that it often avails you the opportunity to fix it up. And of course I can look at a 1983 truck and actually see things I can fix without the need for a degree in quantum mechanics.

So thus far I have only had to replace a cracked windshield (which of course I left to the pros) but there is much more to do. I will have a blower to replace, a tailgate to repair, a bed to repair, a battery to secure, and now a gas tank to replace. (Thank God I am not a smoker!) But these will be added to the tons of other things I have already on my plate. And of course “on my plate” is a diet term that consistently raises my stress level, so I am off to a poor start.
But I have to say, I love this truck. It is drivable too….I mean other than leaking gasoline all over the place…….but by the weekend I should have that all fixed up.
After all, in this day and age gasoline is now liquid gold!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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An Additional Birthday Blessing……..

Really, yesterday was not all that bad…..it was rather good in fact. And one of the biggest blessings to me came when Mr. Gabe Lingenfelter got vested up and served in an acolyte robe for the first time. He had dabbled in it before, but we never had a robe the right size for him…..apparently we still do not. But he made the best of it and did a great job. It was very meaningful for him to do it on such a special day.

Gabe’s mom and dad (Kris and Jeff) are good friends. I officiated at their wedding years ago, and Gabe is their oldest. Jeff is now deployed in Iraq and I know misses all of them very much. He is a great guy, and he even posted a response to my post about my truck the other day with a picture of HIS new truck! Mine is the Wylie Coyote 1983 ACME Ford F-100. His appears to be some high tech spaceship kind of combat vehicle…..poor guy. Mines got an AM radio.
But yesterday was the first of many times I will get to serve with Gabe, and in turn then his sister, and my son (God help me). But I have to confess it was really cool. Gabe is a great kid and a joy to have around! He is already a great acolyte at just 7. Lord knows what he will be doing by 9!
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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DA BIG FIVE-OHHHHH……

Yep, today I turned 50, and it was a pretty wonderful day, although I heard at my age you cannot trust my judgment. But what did I care??? It was my birthday.

Of course it was also Father’s Day, and we had a nice celebration with presents, cake, and then we went out to dinner…….I of course suspect that all this is secretly being funded by both my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who have a vested interest in seeing me waddle to the scale in the Family Biggest Loser competition. And, if I die of heart disease, I am sure they will all go on a “comfort Amanda sympathy cruise.” But I know something they have forgotten…….today was it. And besides Ben’s birthday on June 30th, there is no cake, no big parties, and nothing at all between me and August 22nd when this ends. I will report my weight in the morning and it should be about what it was last week. But this old body will be dropping some pounds and doing it quickly and efficiently. I WILL POST my weight for everyone tomorrow and then my weekly report the rest of the way. (I would post pictures, but in an effort to not traumatize anyone I will not) (And even more than that, I would not want to lose my congressional seat)
But my loving family (Cassie is now included in this) gave me a long string of passive aggressive cards, and laughed and teased about how old I am. (Yes, tonight’s blog picture is the front of just ONE of my cards) I THOUGHT I was getting them back on my way home from my birthday dinner in Indianapolis when I slowed down, and turned on my left turn signal and drove for miles laughing my butt off in front of them. Of course THEY THOUGHT it was on purpose. You could see them laughing behind us….. hysterically. Of course I was confident I had the last laugh, but sadly I am wrong.
Since they thought I was a moron they filmed the whole thing. So for my 50th birthday apparently I am becoming a Youtube star. I will send you the link as soon as I get it.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+
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JUNE 18TH……

Today is my Grandma (Tirman) Keenan’s birthday. She was my dad’s mom, and she died in Florida in the 1970’s. She used to call me her “Prince Valiant,” which she meant as a compliment, but only a grandma could love a kid with hair like that. She always called me Tommy too. And to my dying day (which is ALWAYS getting closer) I will regret the time I told her that I hated that name and to call me Tom. After all, I was 11 with Prince Valiant hair, and you clearly are no more together than that in life.

But I loved my grandma and I miss her. I was never the best of sons, but I know I was an exceptional grandson. My parents divorced when I was young and I saw my dad sporadically. My mom worked and had very little interest in a troubled kid. My grandparents, particularly on my mom’s side (I will see my Grandma Middleton on Monday!) were really what kept my head above water. And I say this in all honesty……it was a big job. So this is to say that if you happen to have me as your priest you can blame my grandparents!
But today I am thinking about them all, but particularly midnight 38 years ago today when the bells ran on Main Street at Disneyworld. (We were about 50 yards up on the left in the picture) My grandma said, “Happy Birthday Tommy, I love you,” and hugged and kissed me. And I told her the same back. I have told that story on that same corner two other times at Disneyworld with my kids. I am sure they think I am nuts, but who cares. I turn 50 at midnight, and I am sure they have plans SOON for the nursing home for me. I no longer have the Prince Valiant hair, but if I did it would be grey…..and a real hit there.
Goodnight my friends and God Bless!
Tommy+