This was quite a weekend. Hot is the watchword here but it is true everywhere these days. We were invited to a concert on Friday night by some great friends. It took place at the Denver Botanical Gardens. It is but a few short blocks from our “house in the city.” The day’s heat gave way to a balmy and gorgeous evening.

The venue is an idyllic one. In their wisdom, the Garden cognoscenti placed a grass amphitheater with the stage in the center of these plants and fountains. Open air, it holds probably 3500-4000 people. You can bring a picnic dinner and of course some vino. Pull up a blanket or a folding chair. It really doesn’t get much better.

The star attraction was Roseanne Cash(Johnnie’s daughter). The apple didn’t fall far. She had a sophisticated but mellow way about her. She is not unlike Norah Jones. A little jazz. A little C and W. Just right for a night like this. Very cool.

We couldn’t help but notice a group nearby who had set up a table full of this and that. There was a woman in a wheelchair and they all seemed to be doting on her. Several friends tended to her every want. They were at the top of the rise so she could have easy access to the hardened exit path.

As the concert wore on, they packed up their wares but lingered on the walkway. Two of the women were dancing as others did. Then they took the hands of their friend who was trapped in her chair. Stationary as she was, they twirled and laughed.

I stepped over and asked if they minded if I cut in. I did my best American Bandstand moves and she was obviously delighted. When a pretty girl smiles at me I have to keep going. I gave her a big kiss and thanked her for the dance. She thanked me for flirting with a helpless old woman. Not the case. We both laughed.

I spoke with her friends and found out that Nola was 66. She was diagnosed with ALS(Lou Gehrig’s Disease) three years ago. She obviously had been an athlete. They thanked me. I said the pleasure was all mine. I have thought about her so many times this weekend.

Saturday there was golf and other distractions from the fiasco in DC. Sunday morning brought me to 7:30 mass. There is a great young priest named Pat Dolan. He really has a way about him. Relaxed and forthright he truly gets you to thinking. In today’s world his homily was about critical thinking.

He simply stated that we should get away from celebrity thinking. Just because so and so who is famous thinks this way or that it doesn’t mean we have to take it as gospel truth. Harry Reid. John Boehner. Mitch McConnell. Barack Obama. Maybe even the Pope. I said that. He didn’t. But think for your self. I am trying.

After church I went to Porter Hospital. I may have mentioned one of my goals has been to get into hospice work. My task today was to help out on Butterfly. It is for those under 18 who are dying or suffer a life threatening disease. This was a day long program. It was for patients and their siblings. It was there I met my other girl friend for the weekend. She was eight years old.

She was a sibling and she told me her sister had gone to heaven. I asked her when and she simply replied, “Last week”. She said the shoes she had on were the ones she had worn to the funeral. She was calm and loving and almost matter of fact. Her acceptance of life and death blew me away.

I can’t go into details but suffice this day, although exhausting, shook me out of the sameness of everyday life. Hospice has a way of doing that. It reminded me of Fr. Pat a couple of weeks ago. He asked if we were bugged by the government ? The heat? The stock market? Your golf game? “How dare you” was his retort. “How dare you!” Think of where we are in relation to the rest of the world.

I am not on a religious kick but I am on a spiritual one. For the four hundredth and thirty ninth time I am taking stock. I look around me. I really wonder how long I can take all I have and not be incredibly grateful. Maybe you all give thanks but I do such a lousy job at it.

This weekend finished with a special on Somalia. Seven million human beings are in true danger of starving to death. I am amazed at the Doctors Without Borders and the women of this worldwide help program or that. They are beyond compassionate and devoted human beings. Whatever I do is a drop in the ocean. I have got to do more.

A friend called earlier. I was not in a bad mood but a very contemplative one. I was trying to find the right words to say. The only way I could was by putting pen to paper. I hope it comes across as honest and frank talk. It’s all I got.

Those women at the concert and Porter Hospital and in Somalia got to me. I wonder if they know they are in in my head. I am in a funny time where everything around me affects my ideas and actions. Some for the better. Some for the worse. What a marvelous world. Thank you ladies.

As Always

Ted The Great

Factoids:

There are hundreds of jobs in the administration that have yet been filled due to Congressional oversight or lack thereof.

The FAA had to furlough thousands and stop several construction projects (which employ people) because the Congress can’t pass an authorizing bill that most agree upon.

Barclay’s and HSBC stock goes up because they are firing people. Stock market goes down because unemployment is up and personal incomes are down.

Ever since the threat of a downgrade by Moody’s and S and P the yield on the ten year US Treasury bond has gone down over the last three months from 3.3% to 2.7% making it in essence more valuable.

If we sold all of the gold in Fort Knox the gold price would plunge at a dizzying rate possibly making the dollar worth more.

I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer but does any of this make any sense to anyone?