This was an experiment, a sort of test-run to see whether I was recovered enough from what was probably the most serious bout of bronchitis I've had in ten years. I'd been to the doctor the Tuesday before and he heard nothing of consequence when he told me to take deep breaths while listening with a stethescope. However, I could still feel the ( Read more... )

I am slowly beginning to believe that I inhabit an alternate universe the minute my head hits the pillow at night. Certain themes repeat themselves over and over; certain characters turn up repeatedly and like any physical space or venue I am beginning to realize that it contains landmarks. St. Michael's Church, Wesleyan, Mommyland, Grandma and ( Read more... )

Crosby and Huggy Bear were about fifteen minutes late, but, I lied when they asked me whether I had been waiting long. And, I should have known that this being Saturday night on the Upper West Side, I should have shown up in something a little more dressy than usual. Both of them were in jackets and ties while I was still basically in play clothes ( Read more... )

It was the kind of Holy Week that could only follow such a long and bitter cold Lent: bursting with renewal and faith and probably culminating in mid-week when we got to meet Innamorata for the first time ( Read more... )

All in all, I was astonished to find myself four years later, on a train to Mommyland:

http://johnwesley73.livejournal.com/2009/01/20/The biggest difference was that this time around I had to undergo this weird calculus: how much of the events do I miss while I'm traveling versus whatever sensory experience I could offer Mom. In the end, I ( Read more... )

Things started off slowly and then got rapidly better as Sunday rolled along. It was damp and a little on the cool side by the time I tore myself away from computer and headed for the subway. I had just missed the Q train and it occurred to me to make a strategic switch to the red line after just a few stops on the local ( Read more... )

I arrived at Mass just in time to hear Hassan reading one of the Bible passages selected for the day's worship. I was so struck by his earnest demeanor and quality of his voice that I stood by one of the columns until he was finished. It was from Ephesians 2:1. Part of it went something like this ( Read more... )

Sunday marked the return of sunshine to New York City, just in time for the Super Bowl, when no one goes outside anyway. It was sort of like that all day; things were on the mend but not everyone was around to notice. The boiler was repaired just in time for the warmer weather. Frances and I could both feel it as well as smell something very like ( Read more... )

Saint Michael's stumbled like a punch drunk fighter into Holy Week; six hundred people trying to give up something, serve the needy and or begin something new and challenging, all within the same six week period; the effect was bound to be unpredictable. Half the Mandarins were recruited at the last minute to re-enact the Passion Play and we ( ( Read more... )

Well, I've done it, this time. Fifteen minutes into Coffee Hour and I'd committed the sin of gossip. Wait, is gossip a sin? I guess St. Paul says something about it. I'm not sure whether Moses did ( Read more... )