News Flash!

I've started driving! The doc didn't say I couldn't, so...

I'm driving locally in my immediate area. I'm staying ofs the Washington Beltway and other well-known crash courses in the area :-) until there's healing.

So, I've been to the gym to swim (boy am I out of shape) and to use the stationary bike, both "approved" activities. :-) I've returned to morning Mass and short stints visiting my friends at the local nursing home. I will (in just a few minutes) drive myself to physical therapy, which is the furthest I drive (about 10 miles, I guess.) and far enough. In most cases, it isn't the driving but the walk from the parking lot into the building that causes any pain.

A friend visited and brought cuttings from her garden which I was able to plant in beds in our front yard. That was so satisfying.

I continue to stitch and read. Most recently I've read 2 Amelia Peabody mysteries and "Winter Garden" (Kristin Hannah's newest novel). I'm slowly making my way through "The Better Part" (a guide to prayer by John Bartunek) and Sigrid Undset's biography of Catherine of Sienna.

I tell everyone who asks that "I'm better" and I am.

Happy Birthday to Me!

On this, my 56th birthday, I am so grateful to be alive to enter my 57th year.

On my 50th birthday, I was recovering from breast cancer blissfully unaware that before 6 months passed I'd face a much more formidable foe.

Six years later, I've come so far. I often say, "I wouldn't wish what I've been through on my worst enemy, but I've been blessed through it all."

Yes, I'm alive; I'm in remission; I survived a transplant.

But more importantly, I'm alive spiritually.

I've had the photo in my files for several years. It's a photo of a blooming desert -- something that supposedly happens once every hundred years.

My life is a blooming desert.

Thanks be to God.

The first evangelists

He is not here, he has risen as he said. He is not among the dead, but among the living. Go and tell...

This year I felt closer to the resurrection than any Easter I could remember. I was ready to celebrate God's victory and God's power over death and all that binds and enslaves humankind. Worship moved me and the rest of the day was full of joy.

Monday, I returned to the orthopedic surgeon prepared, I thought, for whatever the xrays revealed. As the day wore on, I realized I wasn't. The fracture has still not healed. A 'bone stimulation device' has been ordered. The prognosis: 3-6 more months of treatment.

God has conquered disappointment and suffering by the death and resurrection of Christ but for now the victory is claimed on the spiritual level. Yesterday, I did not do that. I had a melt down.

Today David and I decided I could begin to drive on the backroads around home. I will gain some freedom and independence. The doctor said I could begin swimming; an indoor pool is less than a mile away. The church and the nursing home I've served are about 2 miles away.

My life is resurrected. Alleluia. Amen.

Women at the Tomb by Annibale Carracci, 1597-98

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He is risen! Alleluia!

We watched "The Passion of the Christ" late this afternoon. The first time I saw it I wept the entire movie. Today I was able to identify the emotion as sorrow for my sins, my part in crucifying the Son of God. And my final reaction was thanksgiving for Christ's sacrifice and joy in his mercy for me and for all people. I'm ready to celebrate the Resurrection in the morning.