To you who have been praying for me...
I'm taking a break in regularly scheduled liturgical writing in this blog to respond to a significant change in my life--the full effects of which I am not sure I have experienced: the death of my father. On March 23, 2016 in the early hours of around 2-3am, he lost his life due to complications with COPD, and also likely connected to his ongoing struggle with Primary Lateral Sclerosis--a neuromuscular disease that likely weakened his diaphragm which only further complicated the episodes of acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis (AECB) that he was experiencing periodically over the past year. His final moments were abrupt and unexpected for my family, making the past week or so one of the most unique emotional experiences I have ever had in my life. The butterfly in this picture was stubborn like Papa; it was flicked away many times and kept landing on his head. A picture had to be taken. Our family found this to be the most appropriate photo for the obituary. I traveled