Sunday, September 25, 2005
A coincidence. This morning I drove O to a “walk” to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She was to walk with a team sponsored by AHN (don’t they know that Sunday is Mass day?). As O registered at the AHN table, I was invited to walk too. I said ok, thanks, and was given a T-shirt. There was still an hour before the start of the walk, so I was on my own while O went off with her friends. I had with me a little volume, Le Nouveau Testament et Les Psaumes (Alliance Biblique Universelle, 1994), which I had bought at a library book sale when M and I visited Lenox some weeks ago. I opened the book at random. Under my left thumb were the words “La parabole des deux fils”—today’s Gospel reading.
While O and I were at the “walk,” M was at the Cathedral where she had the 2nd reading. This afternoon is LS’s wake. This evening J&IH are giving a dinner party in honor of M’s birthday. I may miss Mass today.
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The wake proved unexpectedly interesting, as I ran into and had a long conversation with AL, whom I had previously known as President (now called Chairman) of the Cathedral’s pastoral advisory council. He told me he resigned in frustration at the second year of his three-year term as member of the council. Seems that change will be hard to come by.
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Another very enjoyable evening at J&I’s. S and V, 4- and 2-years old, made people magically disappear and reappear by first holding a green cloth in front of them and then whisking it away. T talked to me about what he called his delusions. For example, at the theater he sometimes sees the stage floor rise until it looks vertical. He knows it is a delusion because otherwise the actors would fall off. On returning to Albany by bus, he will look at buildings and see that they are all being destroyed. R has to tell him, no, they're not. On a recent subway ride in New York City, he felt he was sliding or floating on his stomach toward the end of the subway car until he reached the end of the car and stopped himself by stretching his arms forward and pressing his hands against the rear door. R told him, no, it didn’t happen, and look, your clothes aren’t dusty and you have no bruises on your hands. T seems quite cheerful about his delusions. I told him he should record them as they may come in handy should he ever be proposed as the first atheist saint. I was never alone with R and so did not ask her what she thought of them. Not knowing that, I didn’t want to bring up the topic at the dinner table. No, I did not go to Mass today, and that is not a delusion.
While O and I were at the “walk,” M was at the Cathedral where she had the 2nd reading. This afternoon is LS’s wake. This evening J&IH are giving a dinner party in honor of M’s birthday. I may miss Mass today.
The wake proved unexpectedly interesting, as I ran into and had a long conversation with AL, whom I had previously known as President (now called Chairman) of the Cathedral’s pastoral advisory council. He told me he resigned in frustration at the second year of his three-year term as member of the council. Seems that change will be hard to come by.
Another very enjoyable evening at J&I’s. S and V, 4- and 2-years old, made people magically disappear and reappear by first holding a green cloth in front of them and then whisking it away. T talked to me about what he called his delusions. For example, at the theater he sometimes sees the stage floor rise until it looks vertical. He knows it is a delusion because otherwise the actors would fall off. On returning to Albany by bus, he will look at buildings and see that they are all being destroyed. R has to tell him, no, they're not. On a recent subway ride in New York City, he felt he was sliding or floating on his stomach toward the end of the subway car until he reached the end of the car and stopped himself by stretching his arms forward and pressing his hands against the rear door. R told him, no, it didn’t happen, and look, your clothes aren’t dusty and you have no bruises on your hands. T seems quite cheerful about his delusions. I told him he should record them as they may come in handy should he ever be proposed as the first atheist saint. I was never alone with R and so did not ask her what she thought of them. Not knowing that, I didn’t want to bring up the topic at the dinner table. No, I did not go to Mass today, and that is not a delusion.
posted by Leo Wong at 11:08 PM
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