I have “recovered” from my hermitic call.
Actually I got on a train and went to NYC. I met my friend, Patrick Berry, who flew in from Chicago and we went to a couple of Broadwary shows. We use to do that almost 40 years ago when we were seminarians and it was always fun. So was this trip.
We saw a revival of “Promise, Promises” with Sean Hayes, who was Jack on the tv show, Will and Grace. We had seen it years ago with Robert Morse and it hasn’t lost any of its charm.
We also saw a farce, called La Bete, in which the fellow who played Dr. Niles Crane in “Frasier” was one of the main characters. He was superb. The whole play was spoken in iambic pentameter.
Only in NYC can you see such things. It was very cold but we got to have dinner with Bill Donohue, a good friend from my days at GC, who is now an assistant superintendent of schools. Although we couldn’t get together, I did talk with Joan Beall’s grandson, Christopher and hope to see him next time.
Of course, we went to Rockefeller Center and saw the tree, we looked at the windows on 5th Avenue. We even went through Saks as I was looking for a hat – having forgotten mine at home-. They were having a sale and my hat would have only cost $168. I put up with the cold until I saw a dollar store and bought one for $6.00. It kept my head warm.
We went into St. Pat’s and saw the manger and the decorations and lit a candle at Nuestra Senora de Guadeloupe, who was surrounded by beautiful flower tributes.
On the way home on the train, outside of Wilmington, Delaware, it began to snow and by the time I got off in New Carrollton, it was a couple of inches. I got on the beltway and it took about an hour and a half to go a distance that usually takes about twenty minutes.
But I got home OK and after checking my emails and looking over a pile of Christmas cards, I think I’ll go to bed.
I was thinking about you walking around NYC in the bitter cold. Our staff retreat was held in the Mercy Sister’s House of Prayer. The building used to be a stable on a large estate, now their high school and motherhouse are in the “main house.” They retained parts of the stable but have a wooden floor over the dirt. Unfortunately, it is still as chilly as the original stable. Our day of prayer was a blessing for all of us!