Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who’s got a time machine of his own going on this week.
1.
I finished reading Eric Sammons’ new book, and hey, it’s pretty good. A lot good, in fact, and a review is forthcoming. But today let me caution you: There’s a humility component to this holiness business.
Exhibit A:
Why do my renewed efforts at holiness always coincide with the arrival of a nasty evil throat-lung-stomach virus in our home? Doesn’t our Lord know I have important holiness work to do?
Exhibit B:
Why does a resolution to be more Therese-like and offer up little annoyances for some general heavenly purpose get transformed into:
1. A multiplication of petty annoyances, and a sudden intolerance for them?
2. A friend suddenly coming down with a horrid affliction (probable bone cancer — femur — please pray for Mrs. P) for which to offer all these things?
3. Thus destroying any sense of virtue I might have otherwise relished, and instead leaving me with a crotchety personality and the knowledge of just how petty it is?
So don’t say I didn’t warn you. Good book otherwise, though. Great book.
2.
I’m going to Dallas!!!!!!! Yes, all those exclamation points truly are needed. Because look, it’s like a giant crack convention:
A. The Catholic Writer’s Conference, which means meeting in person all the people I get to work with on the CWG blog, which really is that exciting because when you get to know these people . . . you want to get to know these people.
B. The Catholic Marketing Network Conference, which is code for “Catholic Bookstores”. Enough said.
C. And then in case I just wanted to be near the superstars of Catholic internet, there’s the Catholic New Media Conference right there as well.
Quadruple bonus: I double-checked the back cover of my copy of Happy Catholic, and sure enough, Julie Davis lives in Dallas. It says so right there. (I knew it was some place in Texas, but I can never keep Dallas and Houston straight, except to know that confusing the two means wow, a lot of driving time.) So maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to live out my dream of one day buying the woman a cup of coffee. Or something.
3.
So here’s the thing: What’s the etiquette on bringing books to be signed at these events? Because I don’t think I can carry that many books to Texas, and yet it would pain me, just pain me, to miss my chance to get some autographs. I’m so conflicted.
3.5
Because I met the guy — that’s why. Neat person.
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PS: Link day. Help yourself if you are so inclined. Post as many as you want, but only one per comment or the spam dragon will eat you up and I’ll never even know.
PPS: Thus far I myself appear to be spared the evil thing — I thought I was coming down with it last night, but this morning I’m good. So here’s your mission: Imagine you’ve already finished praying for Mrs. P and your other serious concerns . . . Would you consider offering up a little prayer for our family, that my other dream of seeing the Bethune Catholic homestead is not thwarted by more plague later in the week? I so want to go. I pass the place every non-plague year on the way to the family reunion, and I totally want to get a child to bake some brownies, and a different child to pack some airsoft guns, and stop in for an hour or two. Goodness I might even mix up the brownies myself.
I was about to ask that we’d also be miraculously able to attend religious ed tonight (last night of the year), but #2 came staggering into the study with glazed eyes and feverish misery, so I don’t think the virtue of prudence will let us get away with that, even if there were miraculous recoveries in the next six hours.