Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Something quite out of the ordinary is happening next weekend. It’s only happened three or four times over the last nine years or so. Could it be a solar eclipse or some other major astronomical event? No, but rather, it’s the reality that I will be away from St. Charles for all the weekend Masses as I enjoy some vacation.
Ordinarily, I try and take some vacation in August, typically leaving on a Sunday afternoon and getting back sometime the following Saturday. I find that timeframe to be sufficient for my relaxation and it works well with the parish schedule of things. However, this time around, some of the circumstances surrounding this particular vacation made it work out a bit differently. You see, it’s a bit of a big year for me, in which my age is rolling over so to speak, into a new decade of things. And as such, I am attempting to do something a bit bigger than just a little staycation or a run out to Pittsburgh to spend the week with my priest best friend. No, this time around, I’m going out to spend a week in scenic Iowa. That’s right, the Hawkeye State!
It’s probably at this point that you’re asking, why on Earth did Fr. Dan pick Iowa to visit on vacation? Does he have a great interest in seeing corn fields or something? No, but it is an opportunity to spend a week hanging out with four of my priest friends and engage in a particular hobby of mine, known as Dungeons and Dragons. For the last five and half years, I’ve been getting together online with these priests to play a version of a role-playing game, known as Dungeons and Dragons or DnD. Before anyone writes a letter to the Bishop about me engaging in crazy shenanigans or the occult, I assure you, it’s mostly a bunch of rolling various die, doing math, and cracking jokes along the way. This particular group has gone on several adventures together at this point, with all of us creating and playing a particular character as well as taking turns running the game. We typically ‘meet’ Sunday evenings and play for several hours, schedules permitting. But we’ve never gotten together in person and this vacation is an opportunity to do so, which I’m very much looking forward to!
And so, I hope that you’ll excuse my absence while I’m away. Trying to coordinate five different priestly schedules proved quite challenging and even then, one of us might have to leave a day early due to a certain commitment. That’s why I’ll be away next weekend. But the chance to rest and relax, to see and hang out with people you enjoy, to take a real break and not be inundated with work concerns, this is so essential for good mental health and I hope you all can get some days away this summer.
Peace and Goodness,
Fr. Dan
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