WELCOME HOME, DUSTIN

DUSTIN is going to be coming home...my friend Kathi's son who has been serving in Iraq is going to be done for awhile. He is a handsome, courageous and likable young man. Thank you, Servant of God Father Vince for keeping him safe and getting him home to his Mom. Thank you, Dustin, for your service.

Meanwhile - on the home front:

The lovers of diversity have struck again!

Over the weekend, in San Francisco, people angry over the results of Prop 8 spray painted Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the Castro District with swatzikas.

Here's the funny part - this is one of the 'left-leaning Catholic Churches' - the Pastor made it a point of saying that 'his' congregation did not support Proposition 8.

It dawned on me tonight, as I was applying numbing gel to my bad tooth (I cannot get to the dentist until Thursday) that sanity manifests itself in my life today by being able to say, without hesitation, "No, thank you. I do not drink" when someone offers me a cocktail.

Maturity, on the other hand, is something that has been much slower in coming to this woman's life. Since I have begun, in the past 8 years, to make regular use of the Sacraments, maturity has been growing.

Maturity manifests itself in many ways: the ability to pay my bills on time and not blame other people for the poor financial decisions I made in the past. It doesn't matter that he lied about being a Vietnam Veteran, having 20 years of sobriety and being in love with me. The reality is, no one held a gun on me and made me give him all that money. I did it because I wanted someone to love me...and it was a really dumb thing to do.

Maturity also manifests as the ability to tell the truth when a lie would be more exciting, accepting my age and that I will never get surfing lessons from a handsome, tatoo'd Polynesian boy unless I am willing to have an ambulance standing by, that the chances of my winning an Academy Award for Best Actress diminish with each passing minute and that no matter how long I stay on Nutri Systems my breasts will not be perky without medical help.

Maturity, I have decided, could cause depression if one is not careful. It can be depressing to watch a woman married to a multi-millionaire television psychologist promote her book on aging and how important it is for us over-50 types to take care of ourselves 'spiritually, emotionally, physically'. You know why? Because it is obvious she has had plastic surgery, that she has access to spa treatments I will never know about and that she is lying when she says I can duplicate the results she gets by using mayonaise on my skin while steaming my face in a bowl of cammomile tea.

But the mature response to Mrs. 'I-have-it-all-and-you-don't-so-read-my-book' is to say, "Interesting. So putting a mixture of oatmeal and sugar on my face every day will tighten my eyes so much I look like a panther? I better try that" and then have another cup of coffee while I flip the channel.

I finally got to see the entire movie The Matrix (thank you, Stacy and Neil). I finally get it. I can now watch the NEXT movie and I will as soon as I get a new DVD player.

Oh, and I guess another sign of maturity? Accepting the fact that Keanu Reeves is NEVER going to just happen to be at Starbucks in Modesto while I am in line......

Today I pray my Rosary for Suzanne, a young mother dying at Doctor's Hospital in Modesto. May Our Lord take her home soon. I also pray for all those caught up in the horror of war, both domestic and foreign, and I ask that Our Lady spread her mantle over all her children - even the ones who deny her mothership.

May Allmighty God bless us all. St Michael the Archangel - BATTLE STATIONS!!!