This is now March - the month came in like a wooly lion; cold in the morning but significantly warmer during the day. And, with this being Ash Wednesday, it means Lent is upon us. There is much to think about as we officially cross the first quarter of 2025, and I had a few things to reflect upon today.
To begin with, I mentioned that my ex-wife Barbara and I are still very close despite not being married any longer. She made a good decision lately to move to Baltimore, as she has been facing some challenges and she needed something of a breakthrough. Just keep her in your prayers.
Secondly, last week was an exciting week too. As I was walking over to the Royal Farms store across from the school one day to get my morning coffee and pastry, it was inescapable to see a huge dead rat, with a morbid grin on its face, lying right in the middle of the sidewalk. And, as is the case with a liberal Democrat-run city like Baltimore, it has been two weeks now and that rat is still there. You would think they would clean that stuff up due to disease and such, but they didn't. Looking at that rat though made me think of something pretty profound, and I wanted to share that today.
Having gone through some profound changes over the past year in my own life, there are still lots of things to process. While I am a lot more financially secure than I was, I still struggle with dealing with the changes that have taken place, as they were earth-shaking and rapid. As much as I try though, some things are like that dead rat - they are now in the past, yet they are laying there on the path with a morbid grin staring at me. What are those? Reminders of things I have lost, but also the memories of the trauma that facilitated those losses. At times it can be a lot to deal with. So, how do I deal with these feelings? I have to think two words - new horizons.
I am at a crossroads in life I had not anticipated - a lot of my old life as I had known it over the past 20 or more years is now gone, and in its place is a new existence. There are many positives about a new existence in this case - thanks to this new position teaching in the Jesuit school I work at, I am probably the most financially secure I have been in years. That is perhaps the biggest positive. There are days though I wonder if it was worth it - that is the dead rat staring up at me from the middle of my path forward. Seeing the urban blight in some areas of Baltimore as I commute to work and home on the city bus, dealing with obstinate minority kids in some classes I teach, and even dealing with crazy people at bus stops (more on that shortly) serve to remind me that this change happened and there is no going back. But, there are other positives too - Barbara is now closer to me, and we do have a wonderful "new" President who is making some dramatic changes that will ultimately be good for our nation. Thanks to President Trump, I may actually get to visit a very special person in the Philippines this summer (Lord be in that please!). As events unfold on that I will share details later. Let me now divert this line of thought and tell you what happened to me last week.
Thursday I left school in the afternoon to catch my usual bus home across the street. Generally that stop at the corner of Eastern Avenue and Chester Street is nothing spectacular - it is in front of an old boarded-up former Burger King, and while the street is busy, it is not anything earth-shaking. But, this is the city, and you learn to anticipate the unpredictable. At the bus stop this day, there was a woman - she looked Hispanic and in her early 60s - who was obviously indigent. She had long matted black hair with gray streaks, and a ratty-looking winter coat. She was hollering and flailing her arms about in a weird manner though at the bus stop, and naturally I thought maybe she was on a phone call with a Bluetooth device, as that is a common thing now. However, she didn't have a cell phone, and instead was haranguing a group of imaginary friends that were only visible in her ill mind, and she then proceeded to start begging for money or food - she was asking if I could buy her a pizza! I told her no, and she went back to talking to her imaginary audience without missing a beat. One of the things she was saying in a thick accent was she was cursing Satan for grabbing her lady parts - I was like "ooookayyy!!" when I heard that. She also was claiming someone in a black car was following her and trying to cast a voodoo spell or something on her. Anyway, the bus came, I got on, and she took a seat just across the aisle from me. She continued her crazy talk, and within ten minutes I had gotten to my transfer stop at the coffee shop on East Avenue. Not thinking any more of it, and having a long wait to make my bus connection, I went in and had my normal cherry Italian soda - that coffee shop makes the best! A few minutes later, here comes the crazy lady, and she is trying to beg for food. At that point, I saw this could be a potential issue, and when the counter person refused her, she left the store. A little bit later, I saw it was almost time for my bus to get there, so I went out. Guess who I saw at the bus stop - yes, the crazy woman. Nuttier than a squirrel in a Snickers factory, she was still talking to a cadre of imaginary friends. I didn't want to deal with this person any more, so I decided to catch the bus across the street instead. The bus I usually take home goes to Canton Crossing first and then it turns around to come back. For some idiotic reason, if you decide to ride it down there you have to get off and then re-board the damn bus just to get back. I wasted no time getting across the street and waiting for the bus to come - it did shortly after. As I was boarding, I warned the bus driver that a potentially mentally-disturbed woman may try to board, and wouldn't you know it, here she came! She got on the bus, still doing her crazy talk, and when I got to Canton Crossing I ran to get away from her as at this point I felt like she was stalking me. But, here she came, stopping first to beg at a sandwich shop down there, and then she boarded my bus home. I was trying to think of a strategy to deal with her if she continued riding my transfers, and decided if she got off at my stop again I would call the police and have her dealt with. Fortunately, she dozed off, and when my stop came up at the corner of 25th and Greenmount, two blocks from my house, I was able to get off and make a hasty retreat home. The crazy lady was still snoozing and didn't know the difference. God only knows where she went after all that, but thankfully I got away from her as I was really starting to feel concern. She, like that dead rat in the middle of the sidewalk, was one of those things that confronts you, and you have to find a way to deal with that. Thankfully God was with me and I did.
The dead rat and the crazy woman on the bus reminded me of the same thing in different ways - some things from our past remained unresolved, and there are new challenges to face in a new life. As you read this today, think of your own challenges, and how you deal with circumstances like that. As you do, hopefully it will lead to a greater reliance on God's provision in all situations. Thank you for allowing me to share today.
