What Paddy Shot At

Today is also the 38th anniversary of my 29th birthday and what a day I have had.

I came over to the office around 8:30am after eating a “strucutred” breakfast to find enumerable greetings posted to my wall on Facebook. Some of you may know that I only joined Facebook because a number of my great nieces and nephews were on it and they told my sisters (their grandmothers) that I was rejecting them. Since I love them greatly, I decided to join and use it. I don’t do it very often; but I have enjoyed all the nice greetings. I shall have to write something later on the wall myself – if I can figure out how to do that. They were all very sweet but one made me and others laugh a lot. She wrote: Happy birthday, Fr. O. I knew you were powerful but an earthquake!! (In case you didn’t know, an earthquake hit Virginia around 2:20pm today and it was felt up and down the East Coast. Fortunately, no one seems to have injured but it gave a lot of peole pause! I was taking my nap and the whole room and the bed shook. As I often comment that I could sleep through the Second Coming, I think I shall revise that. It was reallly something and now I am more convinced than ever, I do not wish to live in California.

I also had many nice emails from friends all over the country. Some lovely email cards that are delightful to watch develope. And many phone calls and a chance to speak with some great friends. Sometimes, I was out of the office, and they left cute and kind messages. One of them, Mrs. Moorman from Queen of Peace sang for me. She was in the choir there and her voice is still lovely.

With the mail, came many thoughtful and in some cases funny cards and messages. I opened them all today (I am ne for putting mail aside and never getting to it BUT no more!). Then this afternoon, I got a lovely and colorful floral arrangement, that is sitting on my desk and brightening the whole room. That was from Dan and Stephanie Poje in Memphis.

I had the 11:00am Mass and offered it for my parents who gave me life and faith. After Mass, I had lunch and then took a nap. I was awaken by the violent shaking of my bed and my room. It only took a few seconds but I knew it was not a truck going by. I turned on the news and after about ten minutes, it was on every channel. There had been an earthquake in southwest Virginia that was felt up and down the coast. I mentioned that earlier but it has been the news all day.
Fr. Jim Beattie came and picked me at 6pm and we went over to St. Gabriel’s church for the wake for Fr. Pat McCaffery, who died Saturday. The funeral is tomorrow but we have a custom of having an evening Mass at the time of the wake. It is very convienent and about twenty priests were there. I have the 11:00am Mass tomorrow and wouldn’t have been able to go to his funeral. Fr. Beattie preached and he was very good. Pat was part of his gulf gang on Tuesday for the last 30 years. He was also a member of the priests’ support group that I joined when I was pastor of St. Bernard’s. He was especially kind to the poor and will be missed. He had altzeimers for the last 4 years and he is now at peace.

I am stopping in the office before I go to bed and I’m glad I did because Terry, John, and Joe called me. They had been together for supper and had wanted me to come up and join them but I couldn’t because of the wake. We always get together in the late summer for suppers to celebrate our birthdays in August, Septemeber, and October. We’ll have to do it next month.
Lord, thank you for this day so filled with happiness, memories, and family and friends. May my life and words always express my gratitude for these blessings. Amen

In preparing a homily for the 5:30pm today; I learned that while this feast was added to the Church calendar by Pope Pius XII in 1954, Mary as Queen was celebrated from almost apostolic times. As Mary is the mother of Jesus and He is our King, she is a Queen. In biblical times, the mother of the king had great authority and influence, so of course, we see those gentle qualities in Mary.

Marie, Maggie and I had breakfast at S.H. on Sunday morning and then headed to Immaculate Conception church for the 9:30am Mass. We sat with the Fitzpatricks and their children and grandson. Father Larry was the presider and gave a great homily. He also baptized two little girls and the ceremony was a nice addition to the Mass. One thing he did, which I had never seen, was to have the all the children come up and sign the two girls with the sign of the cross on their foreheads. The children were delightful and the little girls enjoyed each blessing.

After Mass, we said goodbye to the family and headed home. We left around 11:30. It was a beautiful day and except for two slow downs, we made great time. We stopped and ate (a structed meal that we had brought with us) and still we back at SBS by 4pm. The girls went home and I unpacked, which took awhile. I ate some fish for supper and went to bed early.

This morning I went over to the hospital and anointed a lady I know from Knollwood, who fell and broke her hip. She is having surgery later today. Then I went to the Newman Book store and got some information for a book I am thinking about that could be used for a nine week course on Church History. Then I went over to the Shrine and visited with Robin Pajak, school secretary from St. Michael’s. She brought me some flyers and tickets for a fundraiser that the school is having on October 1st. I am hoping that some people here might want to support the school.

I had a nice surprise in that Kevin Potter, a friend from St. Mary’s days called me. He is living in Virginia now and we had a great talk and made plans to get together in September. Fr. John Bohrer also called to wish me a happy vigil to my birthday. I am going to call him this evening and catch up.

I went to the grocery store and bought some foods that I will use for the next few days till Humberto, our cook, and I have a better chance to talk and figure out what I need him to prepare for meals. He was most agreeable when we talked. Today, I used my food and kept structured – my only exercise was walking but I have the info about the pool and the senior program. I think I’ll send this off now.

I have some time this morning after breakfast and before the pool at 10:00am, so I thought I would try again. What ever I get finished, I will not save as draft but will publish since I don’t seem to know how to add stuff to a draft and may lose it too.

Yesterday was a full day and Maggie and I went to lots of classes and used the pool twice. One of the best classes was on “on line” programs that can help you with information and record keeping. I may try it when I get home.

We stayed in Friday night and even started packing up.

Today – first of all – is the feast of my home parish. I won’t have a chance for Mass today but in my prayers, I’ll be remembering all those special people I have known and do know who are part of that great community.

I am doing laundry, so I don’t have to take home dirty laundry. At ten, Maggie and I will go up to the pool and then head over to Eastern North Carolina. Two Sunday ago, we dropped Marie off at Myrtle’s house on the way to S.H. Myrtle ended up not feeling too well and so Marie ended up staying at the house except for occasional trips to BINGO. So Maggie and I thought we’d pick her up on Saturday, when life is quiet here, and bring her here to spend the night. We will take lunch with us and on the way back, the three of us will go to a restaurant and see how Maggie and I do keeping structed.

We’ll all have breakfast here tomorrow and then go to Mass. We will pack up before we go to church and just start back to DC. Marie’s car is at SBS and so they’ll head down to Maggie’s and I will go to my office and look at mail. I may have time to write something Sunday night. Till then, happy St. Bernard’s Day.

Today is a feast that I like because St. John had a great devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, whom I also like to meditate on.

ONCE AGAIN, I WROTE THREE PARAGRAPH THIS EVENING AND SOMEHOW I LOST IT. I WILL RE-WRITE IT ON SATURDAY – Sorry!

Well, I finally got my bill straightened out and I feel a lot better because it is also the time for the final payment for our November cruise and I wanted the right amount to be in the account. I love that you can go on line and see what is going on in your account. So now I can relax till I get home on Sunday. Enough about that.

Wednesday was another full day for Maggie and me. The morning was full of classes and sessions. We also had some small group sessions and I really enjoyed that. We went to both pool sessions and as we are in the outside pool, I got a little pink from the sun. It has been in the 90’s here but there is no humidity, so it is OK. After supper, Maggie and I just went for a ride to see if we could find the movie theatre that we use to go to. It is amazing how much building has gone on here.
We did have a little excitement last night. Around 11:30, Maggie knocked on my room and said she was ill, could I come out and help her. She is diabetic and took an insulin shot before she went to bed. She woke up and she was sweating profusly. She took her sugar on her machine and it was 56 – very low and very bad! I got in the car and went looking for a 7-11. There isn’t one nearby so I drove to 3 or 4 gas stations and of course, they were closed. I finally found an Exxon that closes at midnight. I got some orange juice, crackers, and chocolate milk. Once she ate, her numbers went up and she was feeling Ok and we went back to bed. Everything was fine today but I was so glad that Pat Watters had warned me years ago what to do if a diabetic’s sugar goes too low.
Today, we once again, had a full schedule and then this evening I had another massage. So I am as loose as spagetti and think I should go to bed soon. We are watching the team from Warner Robins playing in the Little League World Series but I might watch the end of it from bed. I think I’ll write tomorrow.

Just returned from seeing the movie; “Harry Potter”. It was great and very entertaining. If you have seen any of the others, I’m sure you will like it.
Maggie decided at dinner to go on what is called “going to the grocery store”. She says it was fun and she learned a lot; but since I don’t shop for grocery, I thought the movie was a good alternative.

Yesterday, Monday was the normal busy day here at S.H. We had a lot of sessions and Maggie went to everything. I didn’t do the pool in the morning because I had a group therapy session. There were three guys and four women and the leader. It was vey interesting and I enjoyed it. Last night, after supper, I had a massage. I had the same masseus as before. She is from Wisconsin and I had liked her so I went looking for her. It was so relaxing!! I didn’t have any tension but it was just as enjoyable. I got home around 8pm and was so relaxed that I went to bed around 8:30pm. Maggie says she went to bed shortly afterward. It was a tiring day.

Today, we went up to the office early to straighten out some finances but we had a storm last night (which we both slept throught) that even had hail and somehow knocked out the system at the office. We couldn’t weigh in either so I don’t know if I finally have lost some weight. Find that out tomorrow. Skipped the morning pool as Maggie wouldn’t be there because she had group. Instead I went to Jiffy Lube and got my car done. Interesting that our government can’t seem to keep records of where the money is while as I drove up to Jiffy Lube, a man came out and said, “Welcome back, Mr. O’Connell”. He knew everything that I had had done at the Jiffy Lube in Maryland. How come the government can’t find where 2 billion dollars went. Is a puzzlement!!!

So the rest of the day was full again and the afternoon pool, which was outside in the 94 degree weather was great. And then I went to the movie!

I was very frustrated by losing half of my message last night but I am better about it today.

As I was saying: He is prepared and ready to go to Heaven. He has a great support group and his daughter, who has come from Augusta to be with him, is military and between the two of them, things go like clockwork. I have been praying for him and as I told him as I left. It is great to have a face to go with those prayers. He said the same is true for him. I will have another advocate in Heaven.
Maggie and I left around 1:30 and got home around 9pm. There was a steak dinner waiting for us in the apartment. Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason (besides an opportunity to see them) that we went down to the Thompson’s was that Maggie had a wheelchair that was Mrs. Mac’s and we took it down for Maureen to use. She and Rick are going to Gatlingberg soon and it is so much easier if she doesn’t have to walk everywhere.

On Sunday, we went to Immaculate Conception church in Durham for the 9:30am Mass. The Fitzpatricks and their two daughters, son-in-law, and two adult grandchildren were there. It was nice to see them all again. Also Fr. Larry, who was pastor at St. Camillus and always so welcoming to me when I visited, is the assistant there. We had a chance to speak to him before Mass. The Mass was so “spirit filled” and the pastor’s homily was excellent. It is nice to be “in the pew” and have good liturgy.

The rest of Sunday, Maggie and I relaxed. We do go to the pool for an hour, and did our laundry (we have a washer and drier in the apartment), and then watched some more of the Little League games in Conneticutt and Texas. I also worked on “my stuff” and wrote the blog, of which I lost half and that’s why I am writing again about Sunday. I went to sleep and slept through till 7:30am. I will write about today, later tonight.

It is a very nice rainy day today and Maggie and I are using it to just relax. So I wanted to catch you up since Wednesday.
Things are going very well here in North Carolina and I am attending lots of classes and going to the pool twice a day. I haven’t lost any weight yet but I have been eating too many things with salt in them and I hope to show a lost next week. On Wednesday, in addition to our activities, Maggie and I went over and visited Tom and Marge Fitzpatrick. They have moved here from Myrtle Beach to be closer to family that live here. We had a great visit and caught up on their kids. Later that evening, Maggie and I went to the movies. We saw “The Staff”. It was advertised as a humorous film but it was both funny and profoundly touching. We recommend it.
On Friday, we stayed for the pool at 10:00am and then headed out to visit Maureen and Rick in Warner Robins, Ga. We took lunch with us and we stayed structured. It was a beautiful day to drive and we got there in about 7 and a half hours. They had two salads waiting for us. We watched the finals of the Little League on TV because the Warner Robin’s team was playing. They won and will be in Williamsport, Pa for the World Series. Mark and Laurie and their girls, Rachel and Sara, were at the game but couldn’t see as well as we were on TV, so they came by to visit. It was great to see them. Also another friend of M & R came by, Bill and Shirley and we sat up talking till 2am. It was a lot of fun being with all of them. I slept till 9:45am and Rick made a great (structured) breakfast for us. Then Rick drove me over to see the brother of a good friend, who is Catholic and dying. He and I talked for about an hour. It was very impressive. He is prepared and looking for (I am so annoyed that all the rest of what I wrote disappeared somehow). (I will recreate it tomorrow!) Good night!

I finally got my laptop computer, which is about 12 years old, hooked up and working in my apartment. It is so old that Baboo, the IT person wasn’t sure we could get it to work – BUT WE DID!

First to bring you up to date. Maggie, Marie and I left Blessed Sacrament after the 10:30am Mass on Sunday, the 7th of August. It was a nice Mass and Ryan, the seminarian spoke after Communion and thanked the people for his 8 week experience at the parish. We have all loved having him. He is going on vacation with some relatives and then will return to Theological College at Catholic University. I hope that he will keep in touch with us at SBS.
It was a beautiful day to travel and except for the Beltway, we moved down the highways with no problems. We dropped Marie off at her friend, Myrtle, who lives right off of RT 95. Then Maggie and I headed to Durham, which was about 2 hours farther. We got here before dark and settled into our apartment. We are in 118 in the James Coco ( a graduate) building. We have a living room, a kitchen (where we keep cold water in the frig!!) and two bedrooms and baths. They had left dinners for us in the frig and then we headed off to bed.
Monday, we were up around 7am. Breakfast starts at 7:45; so we went to the office first and turned in paperwork. The day went very quickly as there are classes, water exercise, and meals all day long and before you realize, we were back at the apartment, watching ” America’s Got Talent”, which I never watched at home but Maggie introduced it to me and we’ve watched it every night so far.
On Tuesday, once again the day was full with classes, medical appointments, the pool, and meals. It was the hotest day that North Carolina has had and since some pool activities are in the outdoor pool, Maggie and I went out and bought hats! We look silly but it helped. We called Maureen and Rick because we are driving down on Friday afternoon to visit and spend the night. We’ll be back Saturday night. There isn’t much going on during the weekends and we can catch up on Sunday with our rest.
Today is Wednesday and I finally got Baboo, the IT person, to come and hook up my computer for internet. This laptop is about 12 years old and I last used it about 4 years ago; so he had to made the card I had work with the wifi that is in each building. It works but since my window was the 2003 version, I had to update to 2008 – I think. I had to do it as that is not part of Baboo’s responsibility. I keep waiting for it to explode!!!
Today was another full day and I am very tired but had to get out some kind of message since I now have internet. I also called Tom and Marge Fitzpatrick, who have moved here from Myrtle Beach and are old friends. Maggie and I plan to stop over tomorrow to visit and have a glass of water!!! Today also, we went to AAA and got maps for our trip to Georgia. Well I better go watch AHT and then go to bed. I have nothing to report on weight loss but I am learning a great deal that I hope to take home and try to live better.

I have just returned from exposing the Blessed Sacrament and am just sitting here in my office. I have Benediction at 5:15 and the 5:30pm Mass; so I thought I’d start a message. I didn’t do one yesterday, because I just “frittered away” the evening. The morning went by quickly as I had the 8:00am Mass and then did some work at my desk and left for Maggie’s around 9:30. I was there before 11am and waited for her as she was at the doctor’s. Marie came down and I took a nap, then Mike and Sue, Kerri and Tim joined us for supper at Mama Lucia’s. It was very good and then we went home and played cards. Also Maggie and I worked on her menu for Structure House. Couldn’t get mine to work so I might have Cherrios (with no milk) for the first day. We stayed up late and watched already pre-recorded America Has Talent shows. I had never seen them and I enjoyed it. I guess I shall have to watch it at its regular time as I don’t think we have Infinity!
Got up early around 7:30am and drove up to Blessed Sacrament. I had the 11am Mass. Joined the house for lunch and then went to take a nap. Marie came and had to pound on my door to wake me. I had left my cell phone and my finger machine at Maggie’s and she brought them up to me. I went back to sleep and got up for supper, then came back to my room. I went through some photo albums ( I am looking to see if I have any pictures of St. Martin’s school or church for their 110th anniversary). Then I went to bed – and I slept fine. I really do like sleeping in an airconditioned (68 degrees) room.
Fr. Jim has a wedding rehearsal at 6pm and so I’ll probably go over to the rectory and sit at supper time and then he and I are going out to supper to catch up.
Yesterday was Bob Norton’s birthday (he’s 65 – a kid) and so I prayed for his parents and him at Mass.
Today is my sister, Maureen’s birthday, so I will say the 5:30 for her, our parents, her husband and family. Lifting up people to the Lord just seems the best gift of all.
Tomorrow, Saturday, I have the 4pm Mass at Knollwood and that’s all but I must get stuff together for my vacation. Maggie and Marie are coming to the 10:30am Mass on Sunday and then we head out to North Carolina. Marie will be visiting her friend, Myrtle; and Maggie and I will be at Structure House, a residential treatment center for ” morbidly obsese” people!!! Doesn’ that sound like fun. We’ll be there for two weeks. We’ve been before but this is post-gradual work. I may write from them but not sure. I will write before I leave on Sunday.