I do believe!

Yes, I have drunk the Kool Aid. The magic number is 6 and, as always, I believe. This is our year. It's going to happen. I love hearing everyone sing the Steve Goodman Cubs Victory song at the end of the games we win.

Now, how am I going to function in seminary with playoffs as competition? No contest there. I'm not going to live another 99 years. This town will go crazy.

Oh, the picture above. Ernie Banks, Len Johnson (a WGN sportscaster from the 60s), and my former neighbor and all around nice guy, Billy Williams. I must say it was pretty neat to live a few doors away from a Hall of Famer for 10 years. He sang "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" the other day with his three grandsons. They were the cutest little boys. What must it be like to be in grade school and tell your friends that your grandpa is in Cooperstown?

There's just one big thing that's bumming me out about all of this. My Dad, with his strange dementia. I'm not sure if he really understands what's going on with the Cubs. He's been such a loyal fan his whole life, from the time he was a little boy. And it wasn't easy to be a Cub fan on the South Side. Take it from one who knows. So, I just don't know what he's taking in right now.

I can't believe this is just the end of the second week of school. I feel as if I've been here for months. As usual, I'm inundated with reading -- if it just weren't all so engrossing I'd be doing more skimming. Instead, I find myself rereading particularly beautiful passages. Okay, I'm not so excited about readings from Aristotle and Aquinas, but I just finished At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness by Arthur Frank. It's a great book for chaplains to read after CPE, but I wish I'd read it before the summer. Frank reflects on his experience with a heart attack and with testicular cancer, with emphasis on the latter. He explores our generally dysfunctional attitudes toward illness and cancer in particular. His main point is that "The responsibility of the ill, then, is not to get well but to express their illness well. And the two have nothing to do with each other" (127). Good stuff.
The picture is a favorite of mine from early spring. It's Junko, Noriko, and Kuni -- one relative and two friends.

A Week as a Middler

I've survived my first week of my second year in seminary. I was hoping this semester might not be as tasking as other terms have been. Well, all hope is lost. I'm taking four classes Preaching, Plunge (too difficult to explain -- suffice it to say, it's a practicum), Ethics, and Pastoral Care in Illness and Suffering. Here it is my first weekend and I'm working on two papers already. And it's fall in Chicago. The glorious season. Made even more glorious by the Cubs' victory today. My brother Mark has accused me of drinking the Kool Aid, but I do believe the boys will do it this year.

Trompe L'Oeil

I love this trompe l'oeil. It certainly gives the observor an interesting point of view. Would make most people a bit uncomfortable, I believe. It reminds me of one of my favorite places in Rome, Il Gesu, the church of the Jesuits with its remarkable trompe l'oeil baroque paintings, so amazing it's difficult not to believe the angels aren't descending from the dome.

So, here I am, the night before my first class of my second year of seminary. I'm excited about my schedule. I have my first preaching class, Ethics, a course at Garrett on Pastoral Care and Illness and Suffering, and the class that prepares us for Plunge in January (more about that later -- don't have the energy today). I had a lovely day with my brothers, my sister-in-law, and my son's family. The Cubs endured an embarrassing loss. We played a wild game of Apples to Apples (my daughter-in-law Junko won). I brought the dessert and, for the first time in about forty-five years, my family was treated to four pints of Walgreen's ice cream and a box of Maurice Lennell cookies -- a true Chicago feast. When we were kids, my Dad would often stop at Walgreen's on payday (once a month) and pick up four pints for a dollar. They were square and wrapped in folded cardboard in the way ice cream always used to be packaged. Dad would remove the cardboard "jackets" and cut the blocks with a knife, serving us our favorite flavors. Today I bought Rocky Road, Moose Tracks, Banana Split, and Creme de Menthe. They were a nostalgic hit. I'd forgotten all these years how good Walgreen's ice cream is.

I think I'm ready for the merry-go-round to begin again. My vow is to lighten up this year, to make sure I make time for myself and to refrain from compulsive/obsessive studying.

The Crayon Thing

Via Emily and Beth. Actually the color is no surprise. Pretty accurate too. Of course, why wouldn't I say so? It's quite positive. I should search for a few green crayons and learn more about why I drive them crazy. I have a feeling my wasbund may have been green -- and it's not easy . . . yada yada.

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.