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THE PRODIGAL ALTAR BOY BLOG
180-DAY COUNTDOWN
T-minus 175 DAYS AND COUNTING
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The Long Road Home
We made an early trip from Norfolk this morning. Driving the same roads establish a
rhythm. The rhythm today was off. I’ will show my age when I compare this “off
rhythm” akin to a vinyl record is playing off speed or (dating myself even
further) a 45 is off center. The music
is somewhat familiar, the lyrics are there, but something just off.
Driving the interstate early in the morning gave me a chance
to reflect on every trip I have made to Tidewater to shoot footage for the
documentary. Reliving those shoots, remembering TQ’s irreverence, backed by
deep theological scholarship, reinforced how blessed I am to have ever met a
TQ.
I met a woman, Maureen, at the funeral. She told me she thought the picture of TQ
visiting a sick person that accompanied his obituary, was her favorite because
it captured the essence of TQ. She
talked about how TQ visited people in the hospital or in nursing homes, and if
they did not get flowers, he would bring flowers. In an early interview, TQ stated one of his
early mentors told him, “If you’re not serving the poor and the sick, if the
phone isn’t ringing off the hook, then you might as well close the parish.”
Maureen also shared a running bet among her friends about
what would happen when TQ got to heaven.
The wagers were split between the Blessed Mary greeting TQ when he got
there, Jesus revealing to TQ which Apostle He loved the most, and a third I
cannot recall right now. Anybody that
inspires that kind of afterlife speculation is a gift from God.
Coming soon: scans of the program from TQ's celebration of life
