by Mary | May 15, 2013 | Life Lines
My May Life Lines column, currently running in the latest issue of Catholic New York, just in time for Pentecost:
I reluctantly went for a walk today, not because I wanted exercise but because I needed to get outside of my own head, and walking has a way of taking me to that particular interior destination. As I wandered through the neighborhood, the wind was whipping up, bending branches of the mighty oaks and pines and maples towering overhead, and for the briefest moment I felt as though the Spirit was blowing right through me. (more…)
by Mary | May 12, 2013 | Uncategorized
A few weeks ago, I received an email from my first boyfriend. (Yes, we still keep in touch. We dated from age 16 to 21, so we grew into adulthood together. That counts for something.) Anyway, he was writing to let me know that he was at my mother’s grave on Easter. He had his daughter with him and he told her about my mother and “what a special person she was on this earth and I expect in heaven.” (more…)
by Mary | May 10, 2013 | Uncategorized
Every May, when I wander into the Hallmark store or CVS or some other location featuring overpriced, unrealistic, sugar-coated schmaltz for Mother’s Day, I feel a tightening somewhere in my gut. Usually I pick up random cards from the racks while I mutter to myself or laugh out loud. I realize that people probably step away from me, assuming I’m ever-so-slightly deranged. I’ve even been known to engage other card shoppers in conversation about the ridiculous nature of Mother’s and Father’s Day cards. You’ve been warned. (more…)
by Mary | May 8, 2013 | Uncategorized
I really didn’t think I’d be able to read all the way through Recipe for Joy: A Stepmom’s Story of Finding Faith, Following Love, and Feeding a Family by Robin Davis (Loyola Press) in time for today’s blog tour. I figured, at best, I’d sit down with the prologue, peruse a few pages, and make a stab at saying something. But this book pulled me in from the very first paragraph and kept me reading long past the time I had allotted myself. In fact, I’m still reading, slowly, happily, hungrily. I’m about three-quarters of the way through, but I don’t want to rush it because there is so much to savor — beautiful writing, a surprising and heartfelt and faith-filled story, recipes, humor, family, motherhood. Everything you could ask for, really. (more…)
by Mary | May 7, 2013 | Uncategorized
About five years ago, around the time my Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Catholic Catechism came out, a national Catholic newspaper ran a story on it — and me — with the headline, “Apostle to the Idiots.” That snarky label was clearly meant to convey a certain attitude toward those of us who write and read Idiot’s Guides on topics any more serious than, say, camping or jazz music or Microsoft Word. But, guess what? I wore that title as a badge of honor because what that newspaper didn’t get was the fact that the folks who read my books and follow my blog and others like it are a breed apart, not “idiots” but something outside the norm, something unusual and original and wonderful: misfits, in a sense. So today I am declaring myself to be Apostle to the Misfits, those people who color outside the lines, who are quirky and eccentric and true to themselves and their beliefs in the most glorious ways. We are misfits; hear us roar. (more…)
