So I have been thinking a lot about getting a car. Now that I have a summer job I know that I will be able to get a car sometime this summer and I am really excited. I started thinking of all of the things that I could do once I get a car. One of the things that I thought of was going and visiting people, visiting my friends. I don’t know why, but I immediate thought of Erin…er…I mean Pam. Yeah, Pam. We had had plans two years ago to meet up and go to the Savoy Inn in St. Paul and hang out. Things are different now, a lot different. We had our blowout over a year ago. Yeah we made up, but things are still different. Its been awhile since I’ve talked to her. I mean I still keep up with her on her blog, though I doubt if she knows I do that (I’m a creeper like that).
What struck me though was what she had said to me this summer. We have nothing in common anymore. When we were friends, when we both lived on campus at NDSU we were both hurting people, lost in a world of sorrow. Now we are both different from those two people. But even moreso we are more different from each other than we ever have been before. I don’t even think there would be a point in meeting for lunch. What would we talk about? My whole life is wrapped up in Christ. And I know how she feels about that. There would be little for me to talk about. My Baptism? No. The deep joy I have in the Catholic faith? Probably not. She didn’t like listening to me as an Evangelical, I can’t imagine what she would think of my ideas now that I am Catholic. I don’t know. And how interested would I be in what she has to say? Her lifestyle is so different from mine. Now I’m not saying that I can only talk to people who are conservative Catholics, but knowing our history, knowing what I know, I just don’t think it would be a good experience for either of us.
It makes me sad. She told me that it shouldn’t make me sad. People change, its a fact of life. We were friends, we both came out of that friendship with something new learned about life, at least I know I did. I never told her this, but she has so much to offer, and I learned a lot from her. I guess the important thing is that we made up, we forgave each other for what was said and done.
Though we are no longer friends, I always remember her in my prayers and continue to hope that someday we will be united as brother and sister in Christ (though I suspect she would roll her eyes at that thought). But yeah, she was right, we have nothing in common any longer and that’s just the way it is.
Today is Obama’s 100th day as our president. How do you think he has done so far?
St. Peter Chanel (1803-1841)
If a poor man needed some clothing, Fidelis would often give the man the clothes right off his back. Complete generosity to others characterized this saint’s life.
