She's leaving town .... bye, bye

Actually I am leaving town tomorrow to drive to Springfield.

Dad's hospital stay has become more extended than originally thought. If I have learned nothing else from Tom's Dad's extended hospital stay before he died a few years ago, it was that emotional support matters much more than the idea that one can "do" anything in the situation.

This is where they also serve who only sit and wait (if I haven't mangled that quote).

Anyway, I have a few posts that will show up Friday and Saturday and then we shall see how much time, energy, and inspiration I have for more.

Actually, I know I'll have inspiration. Getting a leaky tire looked at this morning turned into an extended wait with not enough to do (no tread on the tires meant new tires, alignment needed, oh and natch the brakes were "metal on metal" in the back ... thank Heavens for that leaky tire!). Plus I grabbed the wrong book ... Mark Shea's vol. 2 of Mary, Mother of the Son. Not that any of his trilogy are ever wrong but I had finished it and meant to grab vol. 3 which I began last night.

Providential. Of course.

I read through the parts I had marked up (lots of those). Pondered. Read through them a second and third time. Then in the middle of mentally complaining yet again about all the time this was taking, all the money this was costing, the lack of a new book to read, the guy next to me using his cell phone ... oh, yeah, and it is gray again outside ... so I was suffering, y'all ... S.U.F.F.E.R.I.N.G.

(I know ... what a whiner, right?)

Then it hit me.

I was suffering.

(Ok, mostly I was annoyed but it counted anyway.)

Glory be to God and thank you!

I had an overflowing bounty to join with Christ's suffering which I could offer up for my father and mother.

What a difference a thought like that can make.

I was not wanting new problems to surface but as the annoyances continued I could honestly say, "thank you" for each one and hold it up to Christ.

Now that the suffering wasn't being wasted, of course, it no longer bothered me nearly as much. In fact, I would smile when something presented itself.

Glory be, how I love being Catholic.

(Oh, and now my nice, safe, overhauled car feels as if I am floating on air when I drive...like new. God's economy, y'all.)