Errand Day

I'm taking some time out to boil a shirt in water and vinegar right now. I'm quite sure I've never boiled a shirt in vinegar-water before, and I'm enjoying the process. It's a mock turtleneck I earned running the Marine Corps. Marathon about 20 years ago in bad shoes with an injured IT band. It was my first Marathon, and my hair was still dark then. There were something like 30,000 runners in that race through Washington DC and many thousands of spectators cheering along the route. I didn't know enough about running marathons to know that runners often write their names on their race bibs so the spectators can cheer them on. I got into the race by raising a small amount of money for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. In return, they gave me a singlet with their name on it which I wore in the race. "Go, Saint Jude!" people were yelling at me. After a while, limping and suffering, I internalized that identify. I began blessing people, laying hands upon them, as I ran by. Saint Jude is the patron saint of the lost cause and the hopeless case. He's always been close to my heart for that reason. It takes a stimulus of some kind to make a person take up distance running. Sometimes it's to keep from drowning.