Love Good Sentences

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”  
                        Final sentence of The Great Gatsby.


“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.”  

                       Opening sentence of The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

“I planned my death carefully; unlike my life, which meandered along from one thing to another, despite my feeble attempts to control it.”
                       Opening sentence, Lady Oracle, Margaret Atwood

A Gem from F. Scott

"There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams--not through her own fault but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion."

When will I ever learn?

Sometimes I feel like the warden on the receiving end of Tim Robbins' classic  "How can you be so obtuse?" comment in The Shawshank Redemption. I should just throw myself in the brig for a month or two until I learn my lesson. It is indeed remarkable this ability I've perfected of losing sight of the big picture and entangling myself in minutiae.  Or, I'll realize I've been traveling Magoo-like down a certain path, oblivious to falling buildings and disappearing bridges. It's truly mind boggling.  And I thought I was Miss Smarty Pants.

The Summer of My Posterior Tibial Tendon

Somewhere in this blog or maybe the last, or the one before that, I swore off "to do" lists. This lasted maybe a week. I cannot survive without them, even if I sometimes, okay, often neglect their commands. Being home most of the summer recuperating from surgery should have been a great time to tackle many tdl items, but alas not so. Did a lot more thinking about doing than actual doing -- a virtual experience indeed. What has emerged is a more realistic sense of professional purpose and direction,  a reaffirmation of the importance of being fully present, and a desire to cultivate a more centered spiritual life. Of course, the work lies in moving from the virtual to the actual. Time will tell.

Wow and I just had a little ankle surgery.

Transferral of Leadership of the Sisters of St. Joseph, August 2011

This is a clip from the ceremony held at Sacred Heart Chapel in Brentwood, during which the congregation's leadership was transferred to a new team. S. Helen Kearney is the new president. This is a beautifully rendered, poignant and prayerful "litany of the saints," calling upon deceased Sisters of St. Joseph to "pray for us." Moving and inspiring for me as I have been truly blessed throughout my life by this community of holy women. Pray for them.