July 9, 2006

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

Summertime, and the livin' is easy. As planned, I spent the 4th of July Holiday with Pat at Chautauqua. The day included early Mass, a band concert in the park with the national anthem and a patriotic sing-a-long led by my friend Ken Anderson and a wonderful evening pops concert at the amphitheatre which is located a stones through away from Catholic House where Pat serves as house manager.

I returned to Bath on Wednesday evening upon word that Helen Kolo, the mother of my secretary/bookkeeper Barbara Bailey, had passed to eternal life. I had visited Helen the preceding Sunday and shared a small piece of a host with her as she was quite frail. Her funeral mass was Friday morning.

Two other deaths occurred during the week. Patty Yackel Ugolov (46) died on the 4th after an extended battle with breast cancer. Thirty years ago, Patty was a member of Celebrate Life, a teen music ministry that consumed my life for about 12 years. Patty was the first person to sing Psalm 27 - I Believe that I shall See which I wrote as a responsorial psalm for a Sunday Mass. As a young adult, Patty traveled to Turkey where she taught English for 16 years. Recently she moved to New Jersey with her Russian husband Oleg and their daughter.

I've delayed my return to Chautauqua so I can officiate at the funeral of Mary Emerson here in Bath.

This week I've added several people to my mailing list who have not been receiving this weekly update and column. If you are receiving the email for the first time, welcome. If you would rather not receive it, just let me know and I'll relieve you from hitting delete on a weekly basis.

Have a good week. Serve each other well.

Ray

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Bulletin: July 9 , 2006

July 9, 2006

A few weeks ago I mentioned that “Senior Moments” have been occurring more frequently in my life. The name of a person I’ve known for 30 years is suddenly nowhere to be found accept “on the tip of my tongue.” Now, thanks to one of those humorous emails that circulate the internet - I’ve discovered the cause of my “Senior Moments” and perhaps yours.

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

I have been diagnosed with A. A. A. D. D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:

I decide to wash my car. As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the hall table.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys down on the table, put the junk mail in the trash can under the table, and notice that the trash can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the trash first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the coke a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered. I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day: the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find my glasses, and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

So there it is - I’ve got A. A. A. D. D. But , always the optimist - I’ve found a silver lining. I took this dreadful disease and turned it into a summertime bulletin article. Now I can go back to enjoying a very beautiful day.