Kansas | Father Tom Tirman OSM

I am writing this blog from my hotel room in Overland Park, Kansas where I am attending a meeting that will end on Saturday. It has been a long day and one full of many challenges. In the controlled world of my everyday life I am not presented with this much stimuli. And since I am traveling alone, all the decisions are mine to make. I have been in two airports, found my bag, got my rental car, drove the 40 miles to the hotel, and felt it was a MAJOR victory in terms of what I thought I could do! I was so happy I did so well.

Of course on the flip side, I forgot LOTS of stuff (since I packed myself) and I had to make two trips to the Wal-Mart. And even with a list the second time, the stress of my forgetfulness made me forget to read the list!!! Yikes! I am sure all the people gathered from all over the country for this meeting may wonder why in the world I was ever asked to come!!! But at least I now have a toothbrush and socks, so everything will be okay. And if they do wonder, the blessing of my brain is that I may just forget it anyway!

I know my recovery often inches its way into these blogs, but it is partially because Amanda and I agreed that the blog itself would be helpful to me, as my honesty about my struggles may be helpful to you. What I can say through all of it though is that one of its biggest blessings has been my lack of forgetfulness about my faith. My faith has not wavered in all of this, but rather, it’s been strengthened. And if I were ever given the choice between having trouble with numbers or stuttering verses struggling or forgetting parts of my faith, the choice would be so easy. I have been blessed, for the Lord has never left me. He has sustained me and inspired me, and though I may not be all that I was, the truth is I can always find someone to do the math for me! (Thank God…..!!)

Keep my family in your prayers while I am gone. I am sure they suffer and cry and are miserable without me around (Steph actually told me that they went out to eat and were having a blast….but she lies!) But truthfully, please keep me in them. Today is the first day of a big test for me, and so far so good. I have my sermon done for Sunday morning in Nashville, and will hopefully finish the one I am working on for the launching of St. Paul’s Greenfield by tomorrow night. I just don’t want to get too tired, especially when I am in Kansas and alone!

And to make sure I have the best opportunity to do well tomorrow it is off to bed for me! Thanks though for checking in! Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Fr. Tom+

It is pretty ironic that I have gone on leave, especially since I spent all of last night and most of the day with chills and a fever…..I clearly would be out this weekend anyhow. I ache (probably from the fever) and have a big headache, yet I am amazed at my ability to not get things right. Here’s the truth, I picked up a bug someplace and it is having its way with me. But since the stroke, every headache I get fills me with fear that something surrounding that is wrong! What strikes me as odd is that I never ever had a headache when I had the stroke, nor do I even remember it. Yet anything different makes you worry……an ache in one place, blurry vision even when I know I wear glasses, stumbling on a word (though I have done that for my entire life), anything!

One of the things I had to do today is take my son Scotty to the high school for a band performance. Both Steph and Scott play instruments and both had to play, Steph just has a car and insisted her performance was going to “suck” and she begged us, almost in tears, not to go! It was one of the few things I have missed in her life, but more of a pastoral issue. She said half of their small ensemble didn’t show and she was so thankful I too was numbered among the missing…

Scotty I was able to watch, fever and all. He plays trumpet with the band, and they did quite a few numbers and sounded wonderful. I totally scared him however on the way home. My sister-in-law Rhonda is an Occupational Therapist and was in Indianapolis the last few days with another OT, her friend Wanda, for a conference. As I talked about them both I guess I didn’t separate things or more than likely he wasn’t listening well (we call him Captain ADD, but I clearly am the ADD King). So when I kept interchanging Wanda and Rhonda, Scotty thought I might be having another stroke!! He finally stopped me from talking and asked if I was okay. We ended up laughing, which of course I do a lot with Scott.

The hardest part of my day has been needing to stay away from Ben and my 4 year-old niece Kayla who has been here since Wednesday. I think I probably have a sinus infection, but you can never be too careful. Neither of them understand it, but for those of us with the experience of staying up all night with a sick baby or 4 year-old, we know the importance of good healthy distance!

Right now Amanda and Rhonda are downstairs being typical Kansas women….when they start to cook I have to get out of the way. (they tell me to too) They make enough food for every farm in the county, yet neither of them lives on a farm anymore…nor anywhere near one. I think it just makes them feel better, like remembering growing up. And I believe that there is nothing ever wrong with that!

I took some Advil and hopefully it will help. I am sure I have a lot of burgers and farm food to eat in just a few minutes, so I hope to end my first full day of leave headache-free and full!

God bless all of you. I appreciate your prayers and your reading this blog. It helps me a lot. Writing is the one thing I have almost fully recovered, and being able to communicate without worrying about stuttering or losing a thought is a real blessing to me!

I will see you all very soon!

Fr. Tom+

Father Tom Tirman OSM

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