You would think I would be brighter than all this, but I swear I am trying. I have been doing a lot lately, and this blog has gotten lost in the chaos. Please know that it is not the only thing. That may be a comfort to loyal readers, but to me it is quite horrifying. I am however committed to continuing on in my struggles to do more. I have found that when things are easy, I can handle it all. But when things get a bit stressful and overloaded, I have a lot of stumbles. It would make sense to not worry about it if all of life were easy, but in truth we all know it is not. I am glad to be fighting to get through this, because that is how I will finally be able to put it all behind me. Time will tell how I do, but I am writing tonight, and that is a big victory for me in itself!

Amanda and Ben are now in Arizona for our niece’s birthday (Kayla). I would have loved to go, but after I heard that Ben cried for 2/3 the flight, I am okay with staying home. Amanda will no doubt make me pay when they get home, but somehow it will be worth it!

After leaving the airport, I stopped at the Cracker Barrel and had breakfast with Mike Constantine of Family Life (who I have mentioned before in this blog) and who was in Indiana with his family visiting supporters of their ministry. Mike and I had actually never met in person prior to today, but seemed like old friends. It is both refreshing and encouraging to have the opportunity to walk with people as committed to the Lord as Mike. He will be returning in September to speak about Family Life’s “Weekend to Remember” in our Churches. Amanda and I are alumni and we recommend it highly. It is the shot that every marriage needs, regardless of its condition. It helps couples understand God’s intention for their marriage. And if you would like to know more, please contact us!

Anyway, I can make a mess of the house now until at least Sunday, but I want you to know I won’t. (I’m a pretty smart guy!) But I will fall asleep watching TV and act like I am having fun while missing them both terribly. It’s only a few days. I will do my best to get by!

Thanks for your understanding, and keep me in your prayers. I am still at it and hope to post again tomorrow!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Yep, technical difficulties, and all of them in my brain. I received an email this morning from Deacon Dan Conley reminding me about the blog! Thanks Dan! We had been out of town all day Thursday, from around 5am till just after midnight, okay, in re-reading this, I see it was WEDNESDAY. I think you can begin to see my confession it legit.

I have TONS of people (not talking about cumulative weight, but numbers) tell me not to worry, and jokingly mention they forget things all the time. The hard part for me is that I really do regiment my schedule and life in order not to. I know where I was, and quite frankly, post-event, I am no longer there….nor am I close. Things like forgetfulness to others is a nuisance, but to me it is pretty stinking scary.

With that, this blog today represents the Plan B of the times that I struggle…..don’t TRY to remember later, do it when it comes up and do it right then. This is to say that there will be no posting later today, just as I work to get back on track these next few (hopefully) days. Just keep me in your prayers. I am not overloaded or anything like that personally. In my experience thus far it is just like having a cold…..it can get bad for a while, but sooner or later things come back around. At least that will be the theory I will hold onto.

Of course, only if I remember it that is!

God Bless you my friends!

Tom+

Dear Lord I am forgetful as of late. I apologize for it too. With the start of lacrosse season, my time is much tighter, but I would not have anticipated how forgetful I am now. It reminds me of months ago in speech therapy. I would do so well, but it was partially because my problems manifested themselves when I was stress or tired. That was never recreated in speech therapy.

Of course with all that is going on I am a lot more tired, though I do not feel all that stressed. I may need to go back to the dreaded list making for a while, but I suppose it would help. It may not seem like a big thing to those of you reading this, but it is frustrating to me. I keep my life pretty routine in order to avoid missing things. My forgetfulness, to me at least has been glaring!

But why worry today? Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and I want to enjoy it. I will be at our very own St. Patrick’s for much of the morning finishing up a few things, and then back there tonight for a small celebration. It’s a great day, especially where I grew up (by Notre Dame). We have a saying there…..”everyone’s Irish on St. Paddy’s Day!”

I hope you enjoy the day! It is going to be sunny and 70 here. I cannot imagine a better day!

God Bless!

Tom+

Okay, I need to apologize. If I could just remember which teacher who told me geometry was important in life I would go back and make amends. Unfortunately I have trouble remembering even the recent past, let alone over 30 years ago. It will just have to be one of those things I regret for the rest of my life.

This afternoon a few of us gathered together to stake out and line the women’s lacrosse field at the high school. As I was sort of “sighting” the outer stakes, fortunately Mr. Bob Latini (the only one with the right kind of needed experience) showed up and mentioned “Isosceles triangles.” Ironically, I not only knew what they were, but also remembered the formula. But when it came to the math part, well I just sheepishly retired back to my grunt work.

The good news is that the field is marked and it looks great! Thanks Bob! The bad news is that my hands are still covered with spray paint and I am less that 12 hours away from my first service in the morning! There is some scrubbing in my future!

Anyway, it is a day I will not soon forget….just the details. Thank God Scott was there with me to fill them in!

I hope you had a blessed day! Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

Well, though we played for the championship tonight in the women’s indoor league, in the end we lost by two goals….to Carmel. The girls were deeply disappointed, but in truth I was very proud of them. To me as a coach, the indoor season is just developmental. We are already practicing for the regular season, and those games are what really counts. We will do great there…..even against Carmel!

It would be nice if everything we did in life was a win, but in reality that is not the way it works. It’s a good lesson to learn. Each day brings new challenges and with it new opportunities to do better, to do our best.

As a former athlete, I always thought it a bad idea to give everyone a trophy and to never keep score. A ten year old really doesn’t need to have an embroidered letter jacket and travel all over the country to play ball. It’s not reality. Life catches up. In fact, we compete in a lot of life…..getting into schools, getting jobs or promotions, and even in relationships. Life is full of wins and losses, and we are at our best when we learn to deal with them both.

Sure, I would have liked a different outcome. But come Monday I will have a much more determined team. A loss tonight will help us play better tomorrow……but even more so March 23rd when we play them again! It’s already on their radar. I will look forward to that win!

All this coaching has made me tired! Off to bed I go. So goodnight my friends and God Bless! I hope you had a wonderful day.

Tom+

Well another day is done, and it is good to get to its end. As lacrosse has kicked up, and some family issues as well, my ability to keep up with it all has been tested over and over. I would not give myself an “A” in it either. I am afraid to confess that my grade is probably a high “D.” Too much has come up at once, and I am not reliant upon lists again, and am falling a bit behind….okay a lot behind. But please do not give up on me, just keep me in your prayers. You cannot practice how to deal with times like these as a post-stroke patient if you never have them. So I am really just considering all this an opportunity to learn!

My list for tomorrow should put a big dent in much of what I am behind in….at least I hope. If the dog don’t shop and the creek don’t rise that is…..okay, you can tell I can’t remember old sayings either. But as I get things under my belt and and off my list I am anticipating moving up on that grading scale. God has brought me a long way……….I am counting on making it the entire distance!

Okay off to bed! Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

I have just returned from St. Patrick’s where our renovations are coming along at a fast pace. In the past few weeks we have oriented the Sanctuary in a different direction and added a wall that has yet to be finished, but all the work we hope to have done in order to celebrate March 17th! It has been an intense pace, but I do so appreciate all the hard work and dedication of its members. It is looking marvelous!

I cannot tell you how pleased I have been to see this all coming together. St. Patrick’s looked so long to find a facility, and now they have a nice one that is coming together. I especially like how they have all come together and really designed all of it themselves. Donations were taken to pay for the work, and off they went. It is the way it should be ideally!

Anyway, what I need is a glass of wine and a shower…..possibly not in that order though. There is never a dull moment in the priesthood, and I love it that way. I work hard, but I am extremely blessed. Today has been a marvelous day! I hope yours was just as blessed!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

It is so rarely that my life catches on fire, but for the past few days that’s exactly what it has felt like. Work and family issues have kept me so busy that I got out of my rhythm, which for a guy like me, is a recipe for disaster. I signed on tonight thinking I was a day behind, when it is really 4 days. It’s hard to deal with, in that I really do feel like I have it together most days. Seeing that my last post was Friday depressed me deeply!

Today is a marker in my ministry because today, March 10th, is the 19th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. Oddly enough, I was 19 when I first told a bishop that I wanted to be a priest, so it just goes to show that a person can really be screwed up for quite some time! But I am not a big one for dates such as these, nor my birthday, because in reality I give thanks for everyday I get to do what I do. I never really imagined I would ever be a priest, I just felt called to it. It gets no more special with age. I am as enthused about it as I was at the start. It has been a blessing to me for sure.

I do apologize to those of you who follow this blog for my absence. Post stroke, it was to be a big part of my therapy and it has been. And clearly, only problems relating to the stroke seem to derail it. But thank God I remembered! In the words of that great teacher Bob the Tomato, “It’s good to be back!” Let’s hope and pray I now remember tomorrow!

Keep the faith my friends, and your memory for as long as you can!!! God Bless!

Tom+

Well one week of practice has been completed in the lacrosse season…..only 7000 more to go!!! Actually, the lacrosse season only lasts until mid May, but it only seems far away at the start. Soon we will be flying from one place to another and at the end it will seem all like a blur. It is one of my favorite things to take part of.

Oddly enough lacrosse came into our family when Stephanie came home one day and said, “Dad, I am going to go out for the lacrosse team.” When I asked her why, since I was pretty certain that the game had never been discussed in our home, she said quite confidently, “Because Chrissy is going to.” Chrissy and Stephanie had been friends for a long time, and I thought it would be one of the things they would just try. I would not identify either as the athletic type, though Stephanie has always been competitive. Both were more the egghead type! I just never thought it was going to be a permanent thing. Steph is now a third year player and darn good. Chrissy lives in China now and I am not sure if they even play it there……my guess is not. But with Scott on the bandwagon, it is our home’s sport most of the year.

So one week is completed and I am thankful…..mostly for our progress. It helps me to do all this, since as a priest you cannot always see the effects of your work. In lacrosse it is pretty obvious, and on Friday night in our indoor game it was obvious. We are not the team we were a week ago.

God sometimes gives us opportunities we would never imagine. I find myself often living mine. It has been a busy week, but tomorrow I do not have much I have to do. So with that, I will bid you goodnight.

Keep the faith my friends and God Bless.

Tom+

One of the blessings about having a child that is sick like Scott is that they soon get better. Sometimes the road is pretty tough, as it was for him, but I am happy to report that he will be back in school tomorrow. He hasn’t been that sick in a long time, and we are thankful he is feeling better. It is great to see him smile and laugh again.

With that, I am not going to write any more tonight. I was able to finish his room, and as he was getting better he was able to help. But there is a lot to be thankful for today and I am going to just share the best part as I have and then enjoy it!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tom+