No greater Love is there than this...

Here are two pictures from the funeral for Chris Walsh. As I said he was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on September 4. The scene was the most moving thing I can recall in my recent memory. One hundred and fifty firefighters and EMTs came over from St Louis and the Navy and Marines helped to give Chris a fitting tribute that surely would have made this modest young man go and bury his head in the sand from embarrassment. Flags lined the church yard and it made me so very proud of Chris, proud of my church, proud of my city and proud of my country. It truly was the most amazing thing to witness. And in six short weeks, my 23 year old son will depart for the US Air Force. I am certainly proud of him and his willingness to serve his country. God bless Joe, and Sean Patrick Brady(in Iraq), JayBrown (on the border of Afghanistan), Shon Collins(in Iraq), Pat Walsh(just escorted his fallen brother home from Iraq), and Kyle Lippold (the son of an old friend, Kyle is in Iraq) the men who I personally know that are serving their country. There just are not the right words to express my gratitude for their sacrifice. No greater love is there than to lay down one's life for a friend-John 15:13. Thank you men, and all the others serving our country as soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, police, firefighters and of course EMTs, from the bottom of my heart.

Uh-Oh!

Boy have I messed up. This will be legend some day but at 20 years of age it IS NOT FUNNY. My son asked me to cut his hair. I asked if we could wait until tomorrow but he wanted it done tonight. So I said, "Get the stuff".

I asked him how long he wanted it and I showed him the makings on the clipper and the 3/4" guard is light purple. I put on the dark purple which is 1/4" and quickly made a swipe up the back of his head. I immediately gasped and he was not too happy. Holy Cow! But I think all in all it really doesn't look too bad. But he is still miffed with me. So I am keeping a low profile and I think I will head to bed early. Time to start a new week anyway. Like I said someday he will laugh about it. I hope.

I am so very very sad

I got a call last evening that a friend of mines son had been killed in Iraq. In fact he and his family were our carpool for the majority of the time that my kids were in grade school. He was an EMT in the Naval Reserves assigned to a Marine unit and was killed by a roadside bomb. Chris was 30 years old and his brother Patrick is a Marine who was also stationed in Iraq. Pat is escorting his brother back to KC for his funeral and burial in Ft Leavenworth National Cemetary. It makes me so sad for his family. Chris is with his Dad now and with our heavenly Father. There are just no words to make things okay for his family.

UGH!

I am cranky and if I could hide it I would. Some penance for a Friday huh? I will try and pretend that I am not just ready to run away. Can't explain it, won't even try, I am just cranky for cranky's sake.

All is quiet

Today a lady at church said, "I heard you have a 'blog". But she didn't even know what a 'blog was. I really do not think that anyone will really read this or care, so I feel like I can pretty much write in anonymity. But like I tell my kids, don't write anything that you would be embarrassed or ashamed of.

Today is the memorial of St Augustine. Am I a student of Augustine? Not really but I like his story and I love his Mom. St Monica prayed her son into the Church with her prayers and tears. And OH MY! The power of a mother's tears with our Lord. Thank God Augustine was open to His grace b/c he really became an awesome saint. "Late have I loved you oh beauty ever ancient". It makes me appreciate all the more learning to love my faith at a later time in my life.

So here is a little of the beginning of my story. I was born into a Catholic family and baptized at around three weeks of age. (You know how they used to believe in Limbo? Why would they not baptize the children almost before leaving the hospital? Just wondering.) I attended Catholic school from K-7 at which time my parents moved me to public school. My mom thought that the 8th grade graduation thing was way overdone (but it is nothing compared to today) and with seven kids I am sure that school was expensive. So I became a "public" in 8th grade. I continued to attend CCD through my sophomore year if I remember correctly. It was a bit erratic by that time and I was confirmed in 4th grade so it was just b/c my folks said I had to go. And there was a cute boy that went now and then too-that didn't hurt anything.

In the early 70's I attended a brand new high school in my area and during that time it was all about trusting the kids and they will do the right thing. Yeah right. We spent more time in the library some weeks than in class. Much was independent study and study at your own pace so we would check out and go cause trouble in the library. Now I say this like we were really naughty but the librarians liked us and would shush us and sometimes send us out to the commons if we were too rowdy. Thanks be to God we were pretty smart kids or we would have been in big trouble come time for college. All this time I would attend Mass like any good Catholic girl would. We really didn't get into too much trouble but we were a bit rowdy at times. We could drink beer at age 18 and we did. We would have parties at our house and one time my Mom said, "Either the house moved 12" to the north or the rug moved 12" to the south. We would have a house full of kids and everyone was drinking beer. Was it irresponsible? Absolutely. To say it was a different time is true but in hindsight it was definitely irresponsible. Thank you God we all grew up and have better sense from what we learned. I really dated very little but had a date for the prom in my Jr year so that was cool. It is probably better that I didn't date much b/c I was way too boy crazy. I graduated as a Sr class officer but the job really didn't entitle much-in fact there were no titles and no meetings etc. There was very little class distinction and the PTSA (the Parent-Teacher-Student-Association) really ran things. I graduated in the upper third of my class but I didn't work very hard at it until test time and paper due time (I am still a procrastinator!). Enough for this time---I do have work to do.

Why the name?

I tried treading water but it was not available. So I added the holy to it and I think it fits well. I once told a friend that I don't really know how I came back with such force into my faith but I felt like I had just stepped up to the water and was testing with my toe and the Holy Spirit pulled me under and won't let me come up for air. His comment? "Don't come up for air, go deeper, go deeper". Wow, that was something I wasn't expecting to hear. But he was right. So maybe staying under would have been a better title but the other makes sense too. Who doesn't feel at times that they are just trying to keep their head above water and keep all everything going and keep their sanity? But no matter, my life is blest beyond compare and I know it and appreciate all the Lord has given me. I relish the fact that I am not in charge of the world and all I can do is accept what the Lord puts in my path each day.

I don't really want a blog

But I think it is the only way that I will get to post comments on other's blogs. So who knows I am a woman that kept a diary from 1969-1996 so I may love it.