One pretty uncool consequence of getting older is the myriad of embarrassing stories that one amasses  as they make their way through this maze we call everyday life.  All my days tend to run together anyway, and I often have to gauge things up against people who are close to my age, as I need to be aware whether it’s an age thing or a brain damage thing.

Such was the case this past weekend when I drove my wife’s car a couple of times.  I generally don’t unless we are on a trip of some kind.  But as I came out of the store, I thought my car had been stolen.  It hadn’t been, because my car was at home in the driveway.  But I didn’t see it anywhere.

Now I am certain regular readers have heard me say, “This ain’t my first rodeo,” and this too wasn’t.  Generally as a practice, when something like this happens to me, I do not panic, but I think “Hey, this is probably just me and it is a memory thing.”  So I then go through possibilities and on that day, one of them was that I might not be driving MY car.  So I started pushing the lock button on her key, and sure enough I heard a beep…….problem solved.

That’s why I try to blog each day at roughly the same time, park in the same places when I go somewhere (particularly places I go to a lot), and mostly why I am a priest (black shirt, black shoes, black socks, black pants…….I hardly ever go wrong).

But I say this, and I write it, as I am confessing that I am writing this on the morning of the 11th because I indeed forgot…..AND it has taken me quite some time to figure it out. (things like this are not my friends) But I WILL post and date this for yesterday, because if I do not it will confuse me tonight.  But for now I believe I am alright, or at least I think I am……who knows?  I better call my wife and let her tell me what I am so I do not get anymore confused!

Tommy+

I have very tragic news to report tonight.  Ben informed me this morning that he no longer wants to go to school.  He apparently will now not be heading to Kindergarten.  And when I asked why he told me that he was just tired of spelling and homework.  And as you can imagine, I am worried that this will make it a lot harder for him to enter med school.

But since I am hard of hearing, I dropped him off at school anyway….something that he appeared to forget when he came home.  He then spent his time playing in between multiple”time-outs” for not listening.  I did try and get him to spell a few things on a trip this evening to Menards, but he would have none of it.  He appears to have the attitude of a dropout before he has actually done it.

Tomorrow however will be another day.  I did check his room tonight for a leather jacket and some cigarettes…….I am glad to report that I think he is okay.  In truth, I think it all may have just been a bad Pop Tart or something.  I really think he likes school.

Only 13 more years to go before graduation!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I have made it to my goal, although I have somewhat of mixed feelings about it, as Amanda is staying overnight in Indianapolis with both late meetings tonight and early meetings tomorrow.  It is Ben who is struggling with this, and it makes it far harder for me to shift gears into being “off work” for a short period of time.  He is really upset she is not here.

But I did get the opportunity to take him and his brother out for dinner tonight.  It is always such a pleasure and I am always struck at how it makes me want to pray for their two future wives….the poor girls.  But we talked about the Marines, and we also talked about all the strange stuff Ben wanted to bring up too.  My sons are pretty cool to hang out with, and their world is getting ready to change as Steph should be home for the summer on Saturday.

But now we are home and although Ben has school at 8, I will be working from home tomorrow and trying to take it easy.  I have been going non-stop for quite some time and need to rest a bit and recharge.  Of course rest means mowing and a few other things around here too, but that really does relax me.  I am just glad to get to this point.

I voted, I am home, and I am ready to just plug in and recharge.

I just pray it works!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Although these last few days are beginning to catch up to me, I intend to make it to the finish line, which should be sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Two more priests, who are also good friends, showed up for the meeting that we held today and will conclude tomorrow.  And in an attempt to show them a bit of Indiana culture, I did not play basketball with them but did make sure that their dinner was some good ol Indiana Pizza King.

It has been a really good time, and it has been a very fruitful time as well.  But I can say that I am clearly not made to sit and not move around that long.  That kind of thing I find pretty challenging.  I always think of what I once heard about sharks and how they need to always keep moving.  Sometimes I feel just like that, and if I sit for too long it kind of messes me up.

But I hope to have plenty of “get up and go” tomorrow.  It too will be a long day, but the end is already in sight.  And I intend to make it……….if only I had the energy of Ben!!

Goodnight (yawn) my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+  

Today I was able to be more of an observer in two of our churches, as we had a consultant here with us and plenty of clergy already assigned.  It was actually a real blessing to be able to see everything from a perspective I never get to see.

It made me think about the decision we made to plant the first church a little over 5 years ago.  And as I thought about it, I realized that a whole lot of people all over the central part of the state we worshipping together today all because of that first decision we made.  Some of the works we still staff and some are now on their own, but connected to us still through the Anglican Church, but all of them trace their roots to a small group of people who first chose to say “yes” to God when He called.

And of course we have been doing that ever since, but we would admit that we have been a bit slow to plant another church.  We will be taking care of that soon.  But for today I just am thankful for all that we have done.  It was a gift to see……I truly am blessed to work with some remarkable people.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

We have a consultant in town……the Reverend Canon Ron McCray.  Ron is a great guy and a good friend, and he came a day early as we (the members of the OSM here in Indiana) just happen to enjoy gathering together for a little shooting on the range.

So that’s what we did today.  We gathered together in Nashville and shot at some targets.  It was pretty fun, and no one was harmed in the destruction of targets in Nashville.  But it is always a great bonding time.  Ron had blast too (puns are not lost on me) and we ended the day with lunch at “The Holy Cow,” which seems to have nothing to do with religion OR bovines, but it does have good food.

And Ron came up a day early to do just this…….go on our adventure day together.  We were glad he came.  We are a serious bunch with a serious ministry.  It is just nice to be able to unwind sometimes and do something fun…..particularly with good friends.

Sorry about the picture.  We DID take some, but they are on Father Robert’s phone……I will try to get them tomorrow.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yep, I was able to go on Ben’s FIRST Field Trip today, as I was available AND I had taken the abuse prevention training as required by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette.  And it was a total blast (not the abuse training, but the trip), and I was glad to be able to go along.

We went to Mound State Park where we went on a couple of hikes as well as spent some time in the Nature Center.  We saw all sorts of things and learned all sorts of things, but more than anything, I got to be on the trip with Ben.  It was really special to me, and it was something I did with Steph and Scott too.

I did ask Ben what his favorite part of the trip was, and he replied, “playing.”  That’s right, a big field trip to a park with snakes, and turtles and bugs, and wildlife and his favorite part was the running around on the playground.

That’s my boy!  And I can tell too…..remember I went on all those trips with his brother and sister as well.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Wow, what a day!  I can hardly believe that it is over, if you want to know the truth.  Tomorrow I will help chaperone a field trip of Ben’s and then head to the airport to pick up Father Ron McCrary who will be with us until Tuesday evening.  He is a good friend and it will be a blessing to have him with us.

But tonight I began to write this from a chair in my backyard. (picture attached)  The dirt patch will soon be Amanda’s garden, but the setting for me is just not right.  In our old house the cat and I would post nightly from our back porch, but this is just not the same.  I suppose after a year and a half I ought to have this all worked out, but in all honesty I do not.  I do however, hope to have it settled by the end of August.

But now I am back in the house and have Ben in the bath, and the day is almost done!  Scotty’s girlfriend is coming over to eat pizza as I am told, but I will have to take his word for it.  Today has been a busy day and I am more than happy to see it end!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Had I not given the report yesterday on my knee, this would have been what I would have written about……our goofball of a dog.  Yesterday it rained like crazy, yet he spent a lot of the day just either sleeping or standing in the rain.  I suppose it doesn’t really matter if that’s what he feels like doing, but it really did seem a bit odd….even for him.

So in the midst of all we were doing, Scotty and I just kept track of him standing there.  I have included a 45 second or so video to show how very motivated he was to move.  But when he can, he hangs out by the cars, after all, if someone is going to go for a ride they will head that way.  And who wouldn’t want to take a wet dog for a ride?

Of course, it was me just a short time later as Viper and I went to pick up Ben.  The windows were open and he (Viper) was hanging out the window as usual.  I guess just having it fall on your isn’t sufficient.  Being pelted going 50 by it seems much more effective…..at least in the dog world.

But in all honesty, he cracks me up.  Life can be stressful, and even hard.  But Viper knows how to live it….on his own terms.  I couldn’t agree more.  He’s a heck of a dog.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Well I saw my doc this morning just after 10 to have him look at my knee.  And I am happy to say I was right…..I could have gone on for a long time.  I do NOT need surgery, and I do not even need crutches!  I just had my knee drained and a shot of cortisone, which should do the trick within the next few weeks.

I however was quite put off by not hearing from Amanda till late in the day. So when she finally asked me about my knee I reminded her I had tried to reach her all day, but there was some good news and some bad news.  A look of concern came over her face when I shared the bad news……I was to have a complete knee replacement roughly 10 days from now.  So she asked, “Well what could be the good news then?”  And I said, “I am lying.”

Now before you think, “wow, what a dirty trick,” please remember that she knew completely what she was getting into when she married me….PLUS, all Tirman males are just as hilarious (yep, it’s a gift) and she met them all.  And Ben is heading down the road to be the worst of the jokers…..it is going to be a long road for her.

But the real good news is the big thing of the day….that’s right, she married me and she is trapped!!  But things could be worse for her……I could be getting a new knee on May 10th!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+