Monday, March 20, 2017

Gratitude Monday: Minor saints

Yesterday was Saint Joseph’s Day, which—if you are not Italian, Korean or trying to buy or sell a house—you may not have been aware of. Poor guy is always losing out: in the Nativity, it’s all the Madonna and the kid; in cursing it’s always Jesus-Mary-and-Joseph; in March it’s always Saint Patrick.

Well, it’s a tough job, but Joe was not the type to complain.

I’ve always liked Joe for precisely that reason. If you want flash, you go to your Bernadettes, or Patricks or Nicholases. If you want the job done, you go to Joseph.

Also, I like Saint Joseph because the 19th of March is the day the swallows return to Capistrano (más o menos). It’s a big deal where I come from.

And last week, in the run-up to Saint Joseph’s Day, I had occasion to just wallow in birds returning to my life

First there was the snow day on Tuesday, when a fairly steady stream of all sorts showed up to eat the seed I tossed out. But then on Thursday, as I was engaged in a 30-minute conversation with Philip at Comcast technical support, I looked out the patio door and—even though there was not a fresh supply of Fine Tunes—there were more robins than I’ve ever seen at one time in my entire life.

Seriously—more than 15. Just all hopping around the patio, jostling and milling about, like I’d hung out some kind of flashing robin-diner sign. It was absolutely amazing. Philip thought I’d lost my mind, but I did not care. Because robins.

So today I’m grateful for Saint Joseph—I’ll be needing his patronage of various home improvement projects—and for the joy that birds showing up around his day brings me.




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