Home Again

I am home again and have much to share with you. First, I want to say how happy I am to be home again. It is nice to travel, to see family, friends, new places, and take a break from routine, but I am always happy to return home. The only time I would like to prolong my stay is when I am in retreat; I must admit that I would like to stay in retreat.

I have been in Scottsdale, Arizona, Los Angeles,California, Gold Canyon, Arizona, Elgin, Oregon, Boise, Idaho, and back to Scottsdale. All my family are now in the western part of the United States; we grew up in St. Louis but only cousins are there now.

It was quite a trip and hard to pinpoint the highlights. Going to the national AASH meeting in California was a great experience for me. It was a delight to be met at the Los Angeles airport by a former student who really made the whole experience very special for me. One feels at home with Sacred Heart alums from all over. The meeting made me grateful for my Sacred Heart education, too. I also tried to get some of these alums interested in the International Online Program in Spirituality Studies.

I went to Elgin, Oregon, with my sister to be there for my grand-nephew's First Communion. My niece has four children who range from fourteen to four; there are three boys and one girl. Their home is lovely with beautiful vistas all around and deer who graze on the hillside. It is a very small town with only 25 Catholic families so they all celebrated the First Communion with a real pot luck party after the Mass. It was good to see the children again and their parents, but it was a bit hectic.

I am glad to be home; very glad, too, that I had some days with my brother and sister-in-law, saw my nephew and his wife, and had time with my sister and her husband.