All In A Day

The Lovely Daughter and the Charming Roommate spent part of this frigid Chicago day at Millenium Park and, when I called a little while ago, were out to dinner with Chicago Son and Delightful Girlfriend. The girls fly to London tonight; of course, we have all taken note of the mystery crash at Heathrow earlier today. All on board the aircraft are fine and the pilot is a hero, according to the news. I want there to be no need for heroism tomorrow morning.

I spent the latter part of the morning participating in a Presbytery discussion group to which I've belonged for some months -- part of our effort to bring together people of diverse viewpoints on the LGBT ordination issue so that we can get to know one another. Gospel hospitality and graciousness: it can be difficult to go to meetings or hang out online and hurl insults at people who have become your friends, so developing relationships is one way of combatting anger and recrimination.

And then I sat here and worked and watch tv for part of the afternoon. I don't think there are words to describe the experience of preparing a paper on the Old Testament prophets while at the same time watching episodes of The Real O.C. Housewives. Choice quote of the afternoon: "I'm turning forty and one of my main goals is to be as hot as I can." I'm afraid that I became briefly addicted to the show last summer after one of my friends explained to me that it was, in fact, real -- I had caught part of an episode and thought it was a satirical farce. Well, actually it is. And it's back.

And now my neighbor has been here for nearly two hours: an onstreet parking issue, houses not selling in this dreadful market, a cancer diagnosis down the street, her family's holiday visit to the daughter with the twin grandchildren in Germany, the failure of the church to maintain its property, her son's impending marriage, the noisy summer nights when the kids behind her have pool parties ~ the usual, along with the realization that we have been fortunate neighbors of one another for 24 years!