I have just returned from a 12 day road trip with a
friend who needed a companion along for the ride to Texas where she had the
task of preparing her parent’s home to be sold.
It was also her goal to retrieve some precious treasures still in the
house which were too large to be carried on a plane. One such jewel was a cradle her father had
made for his own children, including my friend, and which has now been slept in
by most of his grandchildren.
As we drove along, I read aloud from a tote bag full of
books I had selected for the purpose of sharing specific chapters with my
friend, a like minded Catholic, thoughtful, very smart, and leaps and bounds
ahead of me, a convert, in knowledge of Church history and doctrine.
Our trip each way took three days in the car so we had a
LOT of time to read and discuss and read and discuss. It was a kind of “retreat from the world”
which whizzed by us, as we rolled along from one state to the next, and an
opportunity to step outside our daily routines and spend the kind of time you
generally only WISH you had with a good friend. 