Monday Blues

Today started out terrible. The weather was gloomy. The cough that I have had for about 9 days continues to persist. After morning Mass, I ate breakfast and went back to bed. Eventually, I got going and rode the bike about 15 miles. It is really odd, I do not cough while I am riding, even at my highest effort. But within 5 minutes of finishing, I cannot even take a deep breath without coughing my lungs up.

I drove into town to the ancestral home. One of my sisters was visiting the parents. So we all went out to eat dinner. Then I drove back for a church league softball game. We lost, but I had two hits and scored twice- in that regard my best game ever. During the game, I did not cough at all, but as soon as it was over, I could hardly breathe again. Doc M said it is probably the adrenaline that I am producing that is helping me breathe during exercise.

Tomorrow, the parents celebrate 58 years of marriage. They married 2 years to the day of when they met. I plan to send flowers or a plant. (Actually a gift card to Olive Garden would probably be more appreciated.) Being married must be a great challenge. I admire their commitment through thick and thin over all these years. I do not just admire it, I am deeply grateful. Unfortunately, I observe many couples who for whatever reason, have not stayed together. The children suffer greatly as a result of the breakup. Sometimes the suffering is silent, sometimes as an outburst. Who knows how many hearts have been broken because of it?

I do not want to judge the people in this terrible situation. Making and keeping a commitment is difficult even when everyone is trying their best and the situation is good. In all this pain which results from the failure to maintain a commitment, it is important for us to focus on the faithfulness of God. God is internally faithful to Himself. That is, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are never at odds, they are the epitome of love. And God's faithfulness reaches out to us. The Lord wants nothing more than an intimate union with each of us individually, as well as all of us together. It is God's plan to come to us and dwell within each, so that we can experience love which really has no limits. The difficulty is in opening our hearts to receive this love by giving ourselves in obedience to God. But if we do, such joy will be ours as we cannot even imagine.