Washington, DC Sept 2015

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

About three years ago, my parents decided they were too infirm to travel. Our trip to Ireland was to be the last.

We'll be headed to DC in September on the off-chance we can see the Pope. Yes, that Pope. No, we don't have tickets to any of his events.

Pope Francis is coming to Washington, DC to canonize Father Serra. Before you start with all the reasons Father Serra shouldn't be canonized, I've heard them. All of them. Don't care.

Event details at this point are vague. There is going to be a ceremony, but nobody is quite sure where. If it happens in an outdoor venue, my parents will probably be faced with standing in a field for two or three hours with ten thousand of their closest friends. I have been in the presence of Pope before while I was in Limerick. My parents were there, too. Pope John Paul II spoke at the Limerick Racetrack and there were 200,000 people in attendance. No vehicle traffic was allowed in town that day so my parents and I had to walk the four miles from our house to the meeting. It was madness. To give you an idea of the crowd, the population of Limerick at the time was 70,000 people.

I'm trying to picture my elderly and infirm parents attending such an event. The pictures is not clear.

Wheels up September 21.

[cranefly]

It sounds more ominous than Apollo 13, where there was a whole bunch of experts trying to give the trip a good result. Here, it's just going to be you trying to work the miracle. Scores of "How will you...?" questions come readily to mind based on your past accounts. "Daunting" hardly seems a strong enough adjective for the mission.

Wishing you the best on this.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

The forecast is for anger.

[Drunk Monk]

...it'll surely make a good read here.

and that's all that counts.

In those classic words of Mission Impossible, 'Good luck, Jim'.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

And I really tried not to.

But my mother injured her back and will not be coming with us.

I was under the impression she was going with us whether she had to crawl. But the doctor said no travel for three weeks.

[Drunk Monk]

It is wrong to wish ill upon others

It is especially wrong to wish ill upon mothers. But you're Greg and we know your mom, so we'll let it slide this time.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

There goes our 'good read' here.

I don't know about that. My father has told me to make sure I bring a suit, since I wouldn't know to wear a suit when I see the pope.

He also felt he needed to tell me to take a lot of pictures because that is not what I usually do.

[cranefly]

If it were a situation where the Pope sees you (rather than visa-versa), I'd say a "Got Qi" t-shirt might be appropriate.

Have a great trip.

[Drunk Monk]

Looking forward to those pix then, the ones you're dad asked u to take.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I got a call from my mother last night that tQ ran interference on.

My mother wanted to make sure I hadn't cancelled her ticket yet. She thinks she still might go.

Because because because . . .

My stupid sister said she might feel better by the time of the trip.

So, rather than believe the doctor who told her not to travel for three weeks, she's going with the information my sister in Seattle offered.

Next time I see her, there is going to be punching.

[cranefly]

Your sister should now be required to go along and assist in this endeavor.

Or would that just make matters worse?

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

For some reason, the anger towards my sister made me accidentally start a new thread. Rectification has been commenced and completed.

[Drunk Monk]

I'm clearing my schedule out just to follow this thread.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I come up Sunday and I return the following Sunday.
I'll be in Washington from Monday through Saturday.
Oh, joy.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

So I've decided to add a force multiplier to the complexity level for this trip.

At 3:00pm Saturday afternoon, I was running a fever of 101.5. Go me