Where Have I Been?

Actually, I haven't been too far away--just some last minute vacation obligations.  Since both my wife and I have family living in Oklahoma City, we decided to make it a vacation this year.  I'm posting a photo of my daughter having fun at a fountain in the Bricktown area of OKC.

I did visit St. Joseph's Old Cathedral in downtown OKC, which is no longer the cathedral church for the Archdiocese, but the photos were too dark due to the lighting in the church.  I only learned about The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help later.

The fountain in OKC gave us the idea of going to Schlitterbahn when we returned to central Texas. Schlitterbahn is the state's largest water park--it may be the biggest of its kind anywhere (it's that Texas thing, what can I say?).  I didn't take photos while there, but during the day my daughter somehow managed to get separated from us.  It turned into a five hour search.  She had found a same-aged friend to hang with and in the end all was well.  Near the water park there is a small parish church named Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  During the search for our missing girl I called on Our Lady to help me.  Deep down I knew that the help I needed was with me, after all I was asking for help from someone who could relate.  Anyone with this kind of experience knows how Mary and Joseph felt when Jesus went out exploring the town.

I treated us all to a delicious dinner at a taqueria after the ordeal.  I'm still recovering from the dinner.  My father-in-law always said never to eat at a place that called itself a "ristorante."  I thought surely that I'd be safe with a taqueria.  I doubt that I'll stay away from either taquerias or ristorantes--that's just the way I am--my father-in-law warned my wife about me.

I'll be back with regular reflections beginning this weekend--vacations are over, and it's time to get busy with other things.

Comments

[Gabrielle]

We got separated from our son once on a crowded touristy sidewalk in France, for maybe a little under five minutes, and I thought I was going to die of panic. I can just imagine what you were going through for five hours. I'm so relieved your daughter was safe and sound, and I'll say a prayer in thanksgiving to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Good to have you back too!

[JustMe]

I lost an adorable little 3 yr old in a busy, packed shopping mall one late afternoon (she had distractedly followed someone who looked like me into the ladies' room, but I and her brother had gone straight through that particular store into the mall). I don't know how much time passed before a security guard found the terribly distressed her, perhaps shortly after I had given the report of her missingness, but I came to hate life in just that brief time, and had to work my way back to loving it, to trusting in it even a little. The things that ran through my head..

I think maybe we who would be holy must have to share in Mary's horrors, too.

Indeed, it is good to have you back, too.