By the Way

I really want to thank the 13 people that stuck with me while I was mostly away from the blog for the last few weeks--or maybe it was just one person that checked the blog 13 times a day. Who knows? And I want you to know that even if you are a robot from Russia, I appreciate your patronage, but I'm afraid that you won't get mine.

Oh, and for the person who left a comment telling me how I could get more and better surgeries than the three I was already enjoying--well, sorry, but maybe it will make you feel better to know you were my first spammer.

AMDG

Doesn't Look Like a Killer to Me

Frankly, I don't believe he's odorless either.

I do like a dog that can do double-duty, though.

But a year seems like an awfully long time to wait to be rid of roaches.

AMDG

"Should These Demands Be Ignored, a Tragedy Beyond Your Imaginations Will Occur"

Erik, aka, Phantom of the Opera.

This

About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green.

is the rest stop on I-55 just north of the TN-MS state line. It is about halfway between my home and work. I stop here almost every day on the way to work. I am famous here. When I got a new car, the guys said, "Hey, you got you some new wheels."  When I stopped there on a Saturday, they said, "Hey, why are here on a Saturday?" It's kind of like being Norm in Cheers.

And it really is the cleanest rest stop in the history of the world. One of the guys keeps the paper towels rolled down so you don't have to touch the little handle. I suppose that is why it has to go. I've know for some time now that they were going to tear it down and replace it (It shouldn't take more than two or three years.), but today they were waiting for me to tell me it was going to be torn down Monday. Rats.

Now I will just have to become one of the thousands of nobodies who feel guilty about using the restroom at McDonald's because I'm not going to buy anything there.

And honoured among rest stops I was princess of the exits.

AMDG

Off to Hospital

You know what to do.

I've found some glasses with which I can see the computer with my "new" eye, so when I can stand to keep them open for long, you will see me.

AMDG

His Wonders to Perform

I had every intention of writing about all my gruesome experiences since my original cataract surgery on May 16, but I find that I just really don't want to do it. I just have too many things to be thankful for to complain. For one thing, even when I could not see out of the eye at all, I was never frightened or ever really much worried. I was peaceful throughout the whole thing and that just has to be grace, so it feels ungrateful to be anything but thankful. And here is a picture of the greatest grace of all.

This is my doctor. Every year in January and June, she and her husband go to Serabu in Sierra Leone where she sees thousands of patients and does hundreds of surgeries for cataracts. There is no running water there and no electricity, so they have to bring everything they need. People walk from other countries when they know she is coming so that she can operate on them. They take a priest who spends a whole lot of time hearing confessions.

I didn't choose this doctor; I was referred by my optometrist. I couldn't have gotten a more perfect referral. She is Catholic, and very serious about her faith (obviously). Even though she has a huge practice and is very busy, she has stayed after work day after day to check my eye and make sure everything was going all right. She, unlike almost every other doctor that I have ever met, listens to everything I say about my symptoms and takes what I say into consideration. She told me that she was going to be praying really hard for me for the operation Tuesday. It has just been a privilege in every way to get to spend time with her and have her for my doctor.

I thank all of you who have been praying for me, and ask you to continue to pray. 

AMDG

A Sensible Religion

Yesterday, in preparation for my surgery Tuesday, I received three sacraments: Reconciliation, Eucharist, and the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. In the aggregate, these three sacraments engage all of the senses. I was thinking about this on the way home as the scent of the oil filled the car, and the oil ran down my forehead into my eye into which I am not supposed to allow even tap water. I figure it will be all right.

God has made us with these five senses, and what are we to do with them if not use them to worship Him and grow closer to Him. This is one of the reasons that I love being a Catholic. The Church knows that what happens to our bodies happens to our souls. 

I had to look a long time to find a picture of a person receiving the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick (I would like to call a council or something to find a shorter name for this sacrament.) in this way. Most of the pictures are either people who are in bed or who are standing in line in a communal celebration of the sacrament, but I wanted a picture that was more like the way I received the sacrament, which was to go into the sacristy with the priest after Mass.

We read a lot in Church documents about the dignity of each person, and it seems to me that being able to receive the sacrament in this way really demonstrates this teaching of the Church. It is so personal. When you have a need for healing, the priest in persona Christi puts aside whatever he had planned in his busy day. He prays for you by name, and Jesus comes to heal you.

AMDG