Comforting things

Yesterday, my daughter published a blog post about "The Comforting Things". At the end she said, "Everyone has their own list. What's yours?" So I'm going to play along here.

1) Getting into bed at night, especially with fresh sheets, especially on a chilly night. No matter how difficult the day, there is the promise of sleep in a comfy bed, and a fresh start in the morning.

2) My hour of adoration at our beautiful church on Sunday night. The candles glowing and flickering; the quiet darkness except for the candles, a sanctuary light, and a few dimmed lights in the front pews; the hum of the overhead fans; being in the presence of Christ hidden in the Blessed Sacrament.

3) Old movies. Just like my daughter, watching b&w movies with Gary Grant, or Jimmy Stewart, or Katherine Hepburn, or any number of old Hollywood stars, brings a happy feeling of contentment and familiarity, and many wonderful memories of those family movie nights she describes. Here's one of my favorite clips from a very funny movie: "Mr. Blandings Builds his Dream House".

4) Having all my children under the same roof - and even better, having all of us in the same room together. My kids all know this is my favorite thing. Those times are very rare now, of course, which makes them all the more precious. In lieu of having everyone all under the same roof, it's also very comforting when I at least know that everyone is doing well, wherever they may be.

So those are a few of the things that I find comforting.

What are yours?

Purely rhetorical, as I'm pretty sure nobody even knows about this old blog anymore.  :)

R.I.P.

Recently, some online friends began discussing the book The Benedict Option, so I went off in search of this letter by the late Paul Weyrich. I remember the fuss he stirred up back then, in 1999, because people thought he was being too pessimistic about the state of our culture.

He wasn't too pessimistic; I think he was prophetic. He knew we'd arrived at the end of Christian culture, and that was 16 years before the SCOTUS ruling on "gay marriage". And I think he deserves credit for suggesting something like "The Benedict Option", though he didn't call it that.

Anyway, in googling for Mr. Weyrich's letter, I came across the name of his colleague and friend, Amy Ridenour, who I remembered from my long-ago blogging days. Amy, who founded the National Center for Public Policy Research, had linked to my blog during the 2005 kerfluffle, as she put it, over the remarks of Lawrence Summers, then-president of Harvard, about the differences between men and women. (It ended up being much more than a kerfluffle as the left forced Summers' resignation, which now is the standard practice of the liberal fascists whenever someone says something they don't like.)

Here was the post she linked to:

And now, in our "Dumb Ironies" Department

This cracked me up:

"When he started talking about innate differences in aptitude between men and women, I just couldn't breathe because this kind of bias makes me physically ill," she said Monday.

You know, I just can't imagine a man saying that, or reacting that way, can you? 

And why did I post this today? Because today I learned that Amy Ridenour, age 57, died just a few weeks ago, on March 31. While searching for her old blog, Google suggested "Amy Ridenour obituary". Shocked, I pursued it - and yes, she did pass away. 

Her obituary lists an amazing number of accomplishments. A highlight: she and Paul both encouraged President Reagan to make his "evil empire" speech, and to stand strong against the nuclear freeze proponents on the left - which helped bring down the Soviet Union. Here is her tribute to Paul Weyrich after his death.

Amy Ridenour played a part in bringing down the USSR. Say that again. Think about having that in your obituary.

Rest in peace, Amy and Paul.