Just got back from Houston. Flew up there this morning, spent all day at a conference, then flew back this evening. Just prior to boarding for home, received a call from my lovely and talented wife that Dear Daughter-in-law went into the hospital after her doctor’s appointment this morning. They intend to induce labor tonight or in the morning. She’s had trouble with blood pressure and they don’t want to take chances with the sweet baby.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll be Grandpa Thrice!
Look at what Julie found, just before she was almost removed from this Earth by a propane blast.
Glad to hear she’s okay. Perhaps she had the right pick in the bracket.
Patterico asks, “How has blogging affected your life?”
It’s a new hobby, to go along with golf. I’ve learned something new–CSS and HTML. I don’t know if that’s a good thing….
But I’ve made some new friends in Midland, San Antonio, Australia, Maryland, Germany, Colorado, Michigan, DC, New York, Canada, and North Carolina. And still more here in Texas. And many other places.
I can’t decide whether it has raised or lowered my blood pressure. Blogging certainly affects it.
I started this blog as a way to simply write the things that don’t get published in “Letters to the Editor” because the newspaper won’t print them. I also wanted a place where family could keep track of my sons as they went overseas, and where those boys could post their own thoughts while in a combat zone. They eventually simply sent me emails and photos which I posted for them.
My blog has become my link to the world’s events. That’s why I continually change my list of favorites. I keep up with those daily, but retain others farther down the list to sample. Links shift back and forth between the two groups, but every one of them has something unique to offer.
I also enjoy trying to write about golf. The literature of the game is truly that–literature. I read another tale in The Clicking of Cuthbert last night, and relish the phrasing and imagery Wodehouse evokes. Oh, that I could ever achieve that kind of skill with words! Some day I’ll be able to collect all I’ve written about golf and edit the posts into something more readable.
My life hasn’t changed because of this blog, but the way I spend some of my free time has. And I think it’s been for the better.
Best Of… is up once again, and I have added a contribution. I’ve been lax, and haven’t done so in some time. We have an excellent group of bloggers, and it would be worth your time to check out the submissions.
My youngest son, Birdie, should now be back in Afghanistan. I’ve cleaned up his web page in anticipation of having new info to post there. Much will be posted at his sweet bride’s site, I’m sure. She is here with us, about to give birth to a darling granddaughter for me.
I may have time to spoil her before Daddy gets home.
Rob points us to a column by Peggy Noonan which has been in the front of his mind for the last few weeks.
Just go read them.
Karol Wojtyla is one of my heroes. He is the first non-Italian pope since 1523.
He spent nine days in Poland in 1979 and told the people, “You are men. You have dignity. Don’t crawl on your bellies.” He was right. They refused to.
He went to Cuba in 1998. Castro, the only Communist leader who seemed to understand Karol’s power, wore a business suit in his presence and treated him with tremendous deference.
I agree with Hugh Hewitt’s assessment:
With Reagan and Solzhenitsyn, John Paul II represents the three forces of opposition to communism that shattered the evil empire, the Soviet Union –the American-led West, the Eastern European resistance, and the Russian dissident movement. They also represented the three spheres of opposition: political, artistic and spiritual. Each man came into the field of his greatness later in life, and each has endured hard circumstances in their later years. I hope Solzhenitisyn is able to and inclined to write about his colleagues in the struggle that triumphed.
“This world,” he says, “is not capable of making man happy.” A challenge to capitalists.
I remember John XXIII, and Paul VI. “Good Pope John” was as well-known as John Paul II, and considered an amiable man. Paul did not elicit quite the same generosity, perhaps because he followed a man so loved. John Paul followed, and survived only 33 days in the Papacy. Karol Wojtyla took the name John Paul II in his honor, and became as loved as John XXIII.
As I mentioned, he was also feared. Despots dreaded his visits. And John Paul II visited–often. He made more foreign trips than all previous popes combined: 170 visits to over 115 countries. He knelt in prayer next to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and visited Buddhist temples. He visited Auschwitz and the synagogue in the Jewish District of Krakow, two places close to him from his younger days.
Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. He drew crowds of Catholics, but also people of all religions. And athiests. He had charisma, and he had faith. Those two characteristics allowed him to cross all boundaries.
His strength, long failing, was impressive. He will be a difficult Pope to follow.
God Bless Karol Wojtyla.
****UPDATE****
In an Istanbul prison cell, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish extremist who tried to assassinate the Pope in 1981, was praying for his “brother”, according to his lawyer. The two men have long since made their peace.
****UPDATE II****
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