Prez Day

This compromise date honoring presidents is a day off for me.  I have scheduled things because that is what I do. But, the alarm won't ring at 6am, so the day is a gift. Such a tenuous time to honor presidents.  Some have left in shame, some owned fellow humans, some were crooks, some were liars, none of them were perfect people. It is nice to get a day off though, I will take it.

This date, February 15, is one that I remember always because it is the anniversary of the day my dad passed away in 1982.  He had pancreatic cancer.  He was younger than I am today. On the day he died there was an article in the newspaper that scientists linked coffee consumption to pancreatic cancer. I stopped drinking coffee that day.  My dad was a heavy coffee drinker. Perhaps that is not much of a lesson to learn or share, but it is what I did.

It has been very cold this year.  Artic cold lately.  It was the year my dad died.  I arrived back in the midwest from the tropics on February 2, 1982 immediately after one of the worst blizzards in history.  It stayed cold through my dad's passing on the 15th.  But, I remember going to the funeral and all the snow melting and the feeling of spring in the air. So, I hope that this year will take a turn from the harsh winter to a springlike feel, soon, and very soon.

Lent starts this week and I still don't have a vaccine.  I really had hopes for church at Easter.  I am tempering my expectations to Pentecost.  I hope that I can attend Mass by Pentecost.  Surely, there will be a vaccine in my arm by then. And if it happens sooner, then praise God for miracles.