The Big Scoop from a Small Town

...or village more like...

Smyrna, Michigan, home to nothing special really, just a few quiet village type peoples. One thing that they do have is a nice quaint little general grocery store. The Smyrna Grocery, among the regular party store type offerings, this particular store has a nice little ice cream shoppe in one corner. Knowing this, and it being a hot day, I decided to take my little brother out to get some ice cream. Little did we know what was in store for us...

We ordered two small size cones (as I did not want to spend much, and just wanted a little taste) and the girl began to scope out the luscious cream (I got chocolate)...one...two...THREE!!! scoops. As she handed it to me my brothers eyes nearly popped out of his head at the size of the thing! I myself was rather flabbergasted...it was a leaning tower of ice cream literally overflowing from the dinky little Joy cup cone! And of course it begins to melt like crazy in the heat...we had to eat the cones outside on the front steps of the grocery so that all the town could see us trying to keep the cascades of sweet cream from dripping all over us.

Needless to say we did not quite manage to get out of this affair with our dignity, although my brother (who is ten) fared better due to his age. I cannot remember the last time I have made such a mess eating a cone...Chocolate all over my face, both hands and three little streams that dried on the way down to my elbow! Just soooo happy that nobody I knew came by while I was pigging my way through the cone.

...on a side note...the Ice Cream was really good...just next time I think I will get a bowl!

A Rather Dry Summer

This summer has been a most eventful one for me. Despite the lack of activity apparent from the contents of this blog (none within the past several weeks) I have actually been doing a lot of things, just nothing interesting nor wholly worthwhile to report. That being said, I thought that I should give a little recap of what I have been up to for those interested parties who have not heard from me for a while.

After four years of college and a year of seminary studies and two months in Mexico, I decided that it was high time for me to take a little break from it all. It's difficult to devote almost your entire life to one thing for so long, and yet have the goal still further off. This past year really drained me, but it also showed me that I need some growing up to do. A lot of the guys at the seminary had a few years on their own, working, and living on their own. I call this "living life" or "real life experience." Because I went right from the extreme shelter of home-schooling to four years in small Catholic Colleges and then the seminary, I have not fully (at least to my satisfaction) experienced life to the degree that I feel a candidate for priesthood should. I do not want to be a young priest, who while having all the education possible, lacks any idea of how to live on his own, take care of himself and the day to day cares of 90% of the Catholic population. So this is why I have left seminary formation for the time being (don't worry...I plan to go back someday); to get in touch with the day to day life of normal people and to live a few experiences that my sheltered life has not enabled me to encounter.

So I am now looking for employment, which hopefully pays well and is a job that I like. I have already submitted several application to a variety of places, but have yet to receive any word back. It is already strange not to be back in school this year...after almost 18 years of going to school in the fall...one feels almost like a fish out of water, and more than a little old.

Now you know what I have been up to. I have not been idle, but already I am happy that I made the decision that I did. While it is tough getting over this initially, I believe that I will reap abundant reward from following the will of Christ for my life. So even though the summer has been so dry...there is yet a bit of dew in the mornings!