Taking a Bow

I've been busy this week doing my normal thing -virtually nothing except...procrastinating. The only reason I like to procrastinate is probably because I am so darned good at it. As a matter of fact, I think I have become so practiced now at the art of procrastination that I might even be able to surpass my old friend and writer/editor, Teresa, who I have always said was the absolute master of the art.

And what has been my main focus of procrastination? My blog.

Ok, I do have a few valid excuses for not paying attention to time and writing and such. For openers, the TSS who will be here, working with Kurtis, started this past Tuesday and for the time she was here -from about 9 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., it was really difficult to even be able to slink away and read some of my favorite blogs much less be so bold as to open a file and begin to write a post. The same thing happened again on Thursday and today too when she was here so at this rate, I guess I really will have to resort to my old hours of reading blogs, writing posts in the middle of the night, staying up till 5 or 6 a.m. in order to be able to do that and think, or absorb things properly.

I don't know if what happened to me last night is indicative of that I was just tired or that I am really (I MEAN REALLY) getting senile and confused more easily than ever but this is the way things went anyway.

I fell asleep on the sofa about 8:30 or so last night. At some point, I awoke briefly and opened one eye, pretty much, saw my son-in-law Bill was at the computer and proceeded to go right back to sleep. Then, I woke up and saw the news was on the tv and for some reason or other, I got the idea in my mind that it must be the early morning news program out of Johnstown that runs from 5 a.m. until 7 a.m. so I got up, headed out to the kitchen and decided I would put the coffee on then for the son-in-law to have it all ready when he got up to get ready for work. As the coffee was almost finished brewing, I heard music on the tv playing that set me to thinking a bit as it was the theme music for Jay Leno and the Tonight Show. What the heck was that doing playing at this hour of the morning I thought? THen I glanced at the clock and realized why. It was only 11:30 at night! What a dummy, huh? Not one to waste a fresh cup of coffee though, I poured myself a cup and sat down to try to get caught up in my blog reading at least. Did that till 1 a.m. and I figured maybe by that time I could fall back to sleep but it was all to no avail. I was still awake at 5 a.m. when I decided enough was enough and got up and took a melatonin tablet. I figured if they work as well on me as they do on the baby, I'd at least be able to squeeze in a couple of hours of sleep and I did -till 9:30 a.m.

Yesterday afternoon, I took a short drive to a neighboring village in search of a very good, old friend of mine. I've known him since I was probably 7 or 8 years old. He's a year older than me and one of his brothers -now deceased -was the same age as me. He's a priest and in my opinion, it the epitome of what a priest should be like too. Super intelligent -really and truly he is -quiet, very soft-spoken, very kind and compassionate and well, just a really wonderful person he is. He doesn't have a parish as he is actually considered to be a monk. But the house in which he resides used to be the manse for the Catholic church parish in that neighboring town and the diocese lets him live there in exchange for looking after the house and the grounds around the old, now defunct church beside the house.

I needed to talk to him about some things pertaining to my family and hadn't seen him since last summer. You see, he is also a priest with either the Reserves or the National Guard so sometimes he gets called into duty and is gone for a few months at a clip. He told me he'd been away over Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc., and I don't recall exactly when he returned but he had been in the Gulf, ministering there to the troops.

It was so good to see him again. Regardless of my frame of mind when I go seek him out, I always come away feeling so much better. Gives a lift to my spirits just to talk to him about anything. We talked about our lives, problems, blessings, my children, his brothers, life in this small community. It was so good to communicate with him once again.

I told him about the latest news in the church I belong to -we have a candidate to fill the opening in our parish for a pastor! On April 27th, SHE will serve at the service that Sunday after which the congregation will vote as to whether to accept or reject her. When I told him our prospect is a woman, he wheeled around and with a big smile said "SHE? A Woman, huh?" Yep, Father B, a woman. WOW. He smiled and said "I was going to tell you if you needed a fill-in from time to time, I'd be willing to come preach. Wouldn't that be something now, a Catholic priest doing the service in a Lutheran church?"

Yes, it would indeed be something for sure! And the fact that he even dared to speak such a thing now speaks legions in how far we have come since we were kids together. At that time, our families really didn't want us -catholic and protestant -to associate at all. Saying hello was barely acceptable at times. And although I'm quite sure there are still a good many within our parish who would never allow him to come and be a fill-in pastor at our church under any circumstances, I for one, would sure welcome the sight of such an event possibly happening!

So there you have what's been exciting in my life this week except for the two last things here and that would be two new awards I received this week. I meant to do a post about them at the time I received them and then, for one reason or another, put it off and now, I figure I really better get busy and acknowledge them, add them to my sidebar or in my frequently confused state of mind these days, I'm liable to forget about them all together and that, well, that just wouldn't be right or polite at all, at all, now would it?

The first award is from "The Mother of This Lot" - a mother of several girls (I'm confused now if it is five daughters she has or is it six?) But anyway, if she can keep her head on straight with either number of daughters, then I surely can get on the stick and thank her for this award given to me. She says I get it for being a "thinker" but I'm not very sure that applies considering how discombobulated my thinker has been lately.
Jackie, if you think I rate an award for being a "thinker" I will be more than happy to accept it but now I think I better actually start doing some thinking -or at least some clearer thinking. Thanks so much though for the vote of confidence.

The other award I received came to me from "Beth, Around the Funny Farm" and let me tell you, this lady has her hands full with a husband, three children, a dog and horses! She and her son also ride in barrel races too and I think that is just fantastic to be able to do things like that. This award is just a sweet treat type award she's giving out to bloggers she says she enjoys visiting and my blog just happened to be in that group. Go check out the interesting things Beth writes about with respect to the farm, the family, the animals and the fun! You won't regret visiting her place either.

I'm supposed to pass these awards on now too -give them to other bloggers I believe are deserving of such honors. Well, the truth of the matter is, I love all the blogs I read daily and I consider each and every one of them to be a blog of distinction too -each in different realms perhaps, but fitting that niche all the same.

Therefore, if you are on my list of favorite bloggers, if your blog is one you know I visit with regularity -like daily, whenever you post something new -then consider yourself to have had these two awards -yes, both of them - bestowed upon you!

Now, go forth and write -let the words multiply!