HOW I SPENT MY BIRTHDAY

(For those looking for the blog posts on the recent trip to Israel, they will be posted first on the blog for the Xavier Society for the Blind).

I celebrated the 9 AM Mass at St. Malachy's and the congregation sang to me. And I concelebrated the 11 AM, since we were having Confirmation with Bishop Sullivan. Lots of folks came up to find out about the pi9lgrimage and wish me a Happy Birthday. We had lunch at the Rectory and then I walked over (in the cold and heavy rain) to the matinee performance of "Love, Loss and What I Wore." This is a 5-woman reading, with a rotating cast - I saw Rhea Perlman, Kristin Chenoweth, Lucy DeVito, Capathia Jenkins, and Rita Wilson. If you don't recognize a name, you probably know the actress - and if you don't, remember the name because each of these women is wonderful.

Now this is a "chick" play - as evidenced by the fact that there were perhaps six men in the whole theatre. And I, of course, was sitting 3rd Row center. In a black suit and a Roman collar. And a huge beard. I rather stood out. (I was very careful not to pick my nose.)

But the play is wonderful and the acting was like a Master Class. Funny and poignant and sad and awful stories and just true moments and about the time you thought how nice, one of the women would reach out and grab your heart and squeeze two or three times. I loved every minute of it. The show runs a little more than 90 minutes without intermission but it seems like ten. I went primarily because Ms. Chenoweth was in it, but it turned out to be one of the loveliest theatre events I have been to in a long time. What a nice present - Happy Birthday to me.

Then I went home and spent the rest of the night returning phone calls and working. Another year older and deeper in debt. Well, older, anyway - we're not allowed to go into debt.