one scaredee kat

you know i've never really been a huge fan of all hallows eve, but really when else can you run up and down your street/neighborhood in a crazy homemade costume (inevitably one article of your outfit is from what you had lying around your room or house) and collect--from your neighbors--enough sweet morsels that will leave you with a big fat filling and your parents with a month's worth of hyperactivity ("tommy, stop....STOP! how many pieces of candy have you eaten already?"to which tommy answers with a big chocolate grin, "only eleven!"). i would prefer not to speak about how scared i was to enter any makeshift haunted garages or get in the way of teenagers throwing eggs at houses and cars. for me (and my sisters), one of the best moments of halloween was not the actual trick or treatin', but rather the post-game ritual of dumping out all of the hershey bars, milky ways, sweet tarts, flavored tootsie rolls and pretzels (i even got a miniature Bible one year!) from our plastic pumpkin containers or pillow cases and spreading them across our living room carpet in order to count each individually-wrapped treat. once the final tallies were recorded, the trade talks began ("meg, i'll trade you a reese's peanut butter cup and a candy necklace for your king size nestle crunch bar?"). the halloween activities that the Kerrigan children participated in were minimal and lasted only a couple of hours; however, we were ready for bed by 9 o'clock. and for somebody who has always had stomach issues (usually excessive gas), everyone was pleased that tommy was retiring for the evening :)

a general rule of thumb for all you trick-or-treaters:
be good and be safe. but if you can't be good, well, at least be safe.

welcome friends

i've heard through the grapevine that more and more folks have been checking out my blog. i'm happy to hear this. please feel free to comment or just read some of my monologues (which i hope will become dialogues soon). thank you for visiting...

labre.

one of my roommates last year explained to me the difference between "homeless people " and "people who are homeless." another roommate taught me that trust is hard to regain when someone has proved to be untrustworthy. my third roommate reminded me what true gratitude entails and exemplified how i can indeed show God that i am thankful for all that i have been blessed with. all three of these lessons have actualized for me, especially after my involvement with the saint benedict joseph labre project at st. ignatius high school. what made me think back to these memories and morals? well, tonight was the first night in quite some time that i was given the opportunity to provide nourishment and company to some folks who are living on the streets of cleveland. and boy, was i glad i got that chance (this time alongside john carroll university students), because i forgot how special this activity can be. throughout the course of our van route, which made eleven stops in all, i think the one liner that made me stop and smile was when a man by the name of charles said to a few students gathered around him, "say thank you always and give back when you can." what simple, yet beautiful words that i was able to catch this evening. man, i only hope that i can grow as close to the Lord as some of these folks have become. poor in the eyes of men and women, but rich in the eyes of God, saint benedict joseph labre, please pray for ALL OF US.