Good Morning Digital Neighbors & Friends! Happy Wednesday to all! Already midweek - they just pass too quickly anymore. Perhaps that is the phenomena of being on the other side of the hill. One of my Communion Calls, Ellen, fondly called Gram by everyone, said she only knew two days Monday and Saturday, she always thought there were days in between. Ellen was pushing her 90's and had a wonderful perspective on life. Visiting her was always a joy and almost always interesting. She loved baseball, hockey and talking about the past. She would fondly laugh that everything was behind her and only one thing was on her big list.
She made it to her early 90's living in the home of her marriage and all of her adult life long after her husband Vince passed and her daughter was on the grandma track. Gram was the last of the letter writers, I am sure I have a few tucked away in my shoe box of memorable letters that I look at whenever I am reassigned and wonder what is in the box. Ageing is on my mind, not sure why, but it is a pleasant thought for the most part. The reality of it may prove to be another thing. I do my best to appreciate every chapter that life has allowed me to live thus far. I try to accept where people are in their own chapters, a little time in their company reveals character, competency and overall perspective if there are conversations of consequence.
Gram wasn't sure where the world was headed, she thought the 1950's were the Golden years of life, but she didn't doomcast, she rolled with it. Gram had a lot to give in a life lived at home, a past that was rich and filled with stories of gratitude and sorrow, and a future filled with ballgames and hockey matches until it was time for her to say goodbye. I knew her from 2001 until 2011 between two different assignments.
To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living. - HENRI-FRÉDÉRIC AMIEL
If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old. - JAMES A. GARFIELD
A man over ninety is a great comfort to all his elderly neighbors: he is a picket-guard at the extreme outpost: and the young folks of sixty and seventy feel that the enemy must get by him before he can come near their camp. - OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, SR.
Winter Barn View - Potlatch, Idaho
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
