Tomorrow is a big day for me.  I am heading to an eye doctor who specializes in the eye lids and duct systems of the eye.  He is a plastic surgeon of the eye, and my hope and prayer is that he can fix that which ails me.

For over a year I have had a lot of pain in my right eye.  In addition to that, my eye always looks like it is a mess.  I know people look at it and think I must have pink eye, or that I am on something, but in truth, it is something that hopefully this doctor tomorrow can fix.  In all honesty, I am tired of the constant pain and the watering.  Lots of people cannot cry, I have an eye that is like a fire hose.  And as a person up in front of people all the time, it is killing me.

Please keep me in your prayers.  My appointment is at 11 am and if he wants to take my eye out and throw it away, I am at the point I would let him.  Let’s just hope he is the answer to my prayer and not yet another desperate jump toward relief.

I will report tomorrow…….with the hope of complete relief and cure!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+ 

Well Lent is well on it’s way, and I have to confess that I have never been more ill prepared as I am this Lent.  Please do not get me wrong…we are up and running with a great Lenten program parish-wide, it is just that I have been so busy copying it, distributing it, and talking about it that by the time I was doing it I was frazzled.  This however is not my first rodeo.  I am approaching it with a deep sense of honesty, as I am encouraging others to do the same.

If you would like to take part I would encourage you to download the program in its entirety at www.StMichaelAnglican.com/Lent-2012/  

Hopefully as the dust settles I will be able to get into the whole thing as I intended.  Sometimes however, my intentions are far less realistic than I had hoped.  This however, it very important.  I intend to stay on it.  I am caught up with all of it tonight other than my night prayers.  I will make sure I do them before bed!

But all and all, I am excited about our Lenten program…..I am just less excited about me.  Ultimately I need to focus upon me and I truly intend to.  You cannot be a good priest unless you are taking care of your own soul first…….and Lord knows, mine needs some work!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!


Tommy+

Pretty cool picture, huh?  Yes, I know it is not the best, but it was 45 tonight and that made Viper’s hanging out the window enjoying himself quite enjoyable for even me.  He will stick his head out the window in the middle of winter, which we do when we are alone.  We always wait till we have Ben dropped off first, as Ben is not fond of temperatures under 20.

But seeing him out the window tonight really warmed my heart.  But it was really different than normal.  Normally he just sticks his head out the window, but I was laughing as I noticed he got himself up onto the armrest and was really out there heading into the wind.  I blindly snapped a few shots for the blog when I noticed it…….there was just ONE paw on the armrest……the other was missing.

Sure enough my moron dog was hanging half his body over the door while the other half was disguised as “just pushing the limits.”  He’s a pretty smart dog, but tonight not smart enough as I slowed down and hauled him in.  Ben and Amanda are on their way home from Missouri visiting Steph, and the last thing I need to confess when they ask “Where’s Viper,” is that I allowed him to fall out of the car somewhere between here and Wal-Mart.

So the adventure is over.  Viper and I are home and Amanda and Ben are not far off.  Good thing too.  All this behaving is exhausting.  I will just be thankful to have them home and go to bed!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

They say that an idle mind is the Devil’s workshop…..so thank God I am not competent enough to have any idle time!  I have spent ALL DAY with our copy machine and my computer getting all sorts of things done to complete our Lenten Program, which incidentally you can find online at www.StMichaelAnglican.com/lent-2012/

But at times, I wish I could get into at least a little trouble.  As a young man I lived there, yet as a middle-aged man I guess I am feeling a bit dull.  Sure, I do important work, and it is work I truly and honestly believe in……but now I find that I am really quite predictable…..slow and steady, always prone to the right thing….yep, boring!    And somehow I wonder how I got here. I suppose I should admit that I know that from here I am not intended to leave. I just am always reminded of the prayer of St. Augustine that I used to have on my door at seminary…..”Lord make me goo, but not yet.”  (Yes, I know the translation here is weak).

But I am now in bed, just before 9pm, and tomorrow will come soon enough.  Yee ha, hang em high as they say.  As my older kids are just heading out, I am calling it a day.

I just might be ripping off a few tags from my mattresses in my dreams.  I know, settle down.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yep, I am at home for the weekend again ALONE, or as much as you can be when your wife and youngest son are away visiting your daughter at college.  Of course Scotty stayed home because he has to work, but “home” for an 18 year old who is also a drummer in a band is a relative thing.  I have not seen him all day and don’t imagine I will for much of the weekend.  The picture is one of Ben’s first Halloweens…..he obviously was a sparrow.

But in all honesty, I kind of like the solitude.  I get a lot done without being given chores or talking to Batman every 10 seconds.  In addition to this, I think they all like it too.  Amanda shared about the game today, dinner, and now how they are at the hotel.  Steph and Ben are watching Spy Kids and having a great time.  And did I mention I am not getting any chores?  Very cool if you ask me.

On a different note, I spoke with Father Dan Conley this morning who in our conversation really was doubtful that it was a wold we hit, but rather a large coyote.  I said it was much much larger that a coyote, bigger in fact than any dog I had seen.  But Danny is a retired State Trooper (capitalized to avoid tickets in the future) and he said something that put a chill in both PT and I……he said, “you guys were lucky that the air bags didn’t deploy.”   And he was right, we were truly blessed.  That would have been a disaster.

But it does not change my mind about what we hit…..it was a big wolf, perhaps even the size of a woolly mammoth.  He was just too big and had too boxy of a head to be a coyote.  Regardless…….we are blessed it was not worse.  And it allowed me to be able to get home and be home……all alone.

No worries though…….it is pretty relaxing.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sadly, tonight on our way home from a meeting in Akron, Father PT and I were in an accident.  I was driving and we struck a wolf (yep a real one) going full speed just east of Fort Wayne.  We are certain he died instantly, and I maintained control of my car, but the damage to it (body-wise) is very noticeable.    I took a picture of it to post, but it was just too dark.  We were just fortunate that we are okay and that the car still drives.  I have seen vehicles lose control and crash or ones that have had the animal shoot off the hood and through the windshield.  Thank God none of that happened.

I do however feel badly for the wolf, who was probably chasing something that go over the divider before he turned back and ran into our path.  He was a beautiful creature, and although I posted Big and Bad, quite honestly I can only attest to the big.  Accidents happen, but I must say I am saddened by it all.  If I could have avoided him I would.  Evading him though at that speed and with wet roads could have made this a much different story.

So I pray this night that he did not suffer and that his last memory might have been of that meal he was chasing.  I thank God for our safety, and I will deal with the car when I can.  It’s just a car.  You’ve got to have your priorities in order you know.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I just returned form Ash Wednesday services when an email came in from my daughter Stephanie who is in college in Missouri.  Steph is also an amazing lacrosse player and this past weekend was in Florida playing.  Of course she was not happy with her picture, yet she was named the WILA Defensive Player of the Week.  And as it happened, one of her housemates was named the WILA Offensive Player of the Week.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEWS ARTICLE

Oddly enough, before Steph went to college, she was primarily an offensive player, and one of the best in the state.  Her college coach moved her to defense, seeing something in her that made that make sense I guess, and it seems to have been the right move.  In high school she scored goal after goal.  Now she never even shoots or is close to shooting, yet she loves what she is doing now even more.  Funny how that works.

But I am very proud of her.  She is a fine athlete, and the best daughter a dad could have.  Plus I suppose I should mention that she is a pretty fine student as well.  She is now just two and a half years away from a degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Mathematics.  (I probably ought to have her DNA checked…..after all, I majored in Trouble).

But way to go Steph.  You are awesome!  I am blessed to be your dad!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Tonight I joined about 80 other people for the annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at St. Anne’s.  We had an additional one in Nashville, but without a car, it was just too far for me to walk as it is 100 miles from my house.

But tonight was fun.  Everyone had a good time and it raised some money for a good cause.  Father PT is quite the pancake chef, and everyone seemed pleased to help out.  There were a lot of kids and plenty of fun.  AND, it was really the perfect way to end the season of Epiphany.   Lent arrives tomorrow!

As for me, I intend for tonight to be a transition.  I am tired of living withe body I have.  And no, I am not in the picture since I took it.  But the man behind the camera, God willing, will be a different man at the end of the next 40 days.

Please pray for me as I will for you.  I really do want to see things change!

Goodnight and God Bless!

Tommy+

We have a nice home, but I have to confess that today was a bit like prison for me.  We sold my truck and Scotty’s car is being repaired so he had mine, and I was at the house by myself all day.  Of course that is not totally true as the copy machine repair man, as well as the plumber stopped by, but the point was that I could not go anywhere and it really drove me nuts!

But no worries……tomorrow will be exactly the same.  I will still have no car, nor will I be able to leave.  Oh I have PLENTY of work to do, but if I could escape, or at least had the means to, it would all seem more tolerable.  Sadly, the day will drag onto its very end tomorrow.  The good part however is that tomorrow is Shrove Tuesday and the dragging on will lead into pancakes, which are always a blessing.  But I am sure I will start imagining them as early as 6am.

There is hope on the horizon.  Scotty’s car will be finished tomorrow and sometime in the afternoon (if I can find a ride to Fishers) I will be able to travel without begging for a ride!!  It will be a glorious moment, although I am saddened that it will cost me a bunch of cash to enjoy it.  Then again, what is the value of one’s freedom?

The answer is, tomorrow about $900.  The blessing however is that there will be pancakes to help me ease all that pain!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sadly, my truck and I parted ways today.  It was a good run, but the happenings of yesterday were more than I care to address.  I am more than willing to address issues that I can fix, but I am a priest and no mechanic.  The truck went to the latter, and he was excited to receive it…it was a fire sale for sure.