"Talk about things you can't see."

I have always been Catholic. Growing up my dad was in charge of the Altar Server Ministry and my mom was the Sacramental Preparation and now Confirmation Coordinator. My church was my second home. I got involved in every thing I could. I feel like talking about my faith was an every day occurrence and I was always surrounded by Catholics so there was really never a time when I couldn't talk about it.

Now I am all grown up. I work. I go out occassionally. I have responsibilities. Blah. blah, blah. I feel like even though I go to church every Sunday and participate in the Sacraments, it just isn't quite the same. I feel like so many things in my life are so temporary. Patrick is still in school working on that doctorate. We live in an apartment and really don't know where we will end up. I love my job and I don't plan on leaving but who knows if we will end up moving after Patrick graduates. So I just haven't made an effort to get involved. I don't feel like I can make a commitment if I don't know where we will be in 7-8 months.

Last night, I got a taste of what it was like to be surrounded by good Catholics again. My friend and I met up with two other amazing Catholic women in the Kansas City area for dinner. I can even explain how great I felt afterwards. I feel like that fellowship with good Catholic women is something I have been missing in my life recently. It's not even like we were talking about Catholicism the entire 4 hours of our dinner date but we just had an instant connection, something in common.

One of my favorite phrases regarding relationships is a quote I once heard Curtis Martin say. "Talk about things you can't see." I don't know if he got it from someone else or what but it has always stuck with me. Following our 4 hour dinner date I met up with some other people at a bar nearby. To be clear, I love this group of people. They are really my only consistent group of friends since I have moved here and I am thankful for their friendships. However, after the previous hours of conversing with those wonderful, strong women it just felt odd. It's not that the people are superficial but I think our friendship is a little superficial. When have we ever talked about things we can't see? And I have been friends with them for a few years. And here I just met these two Catholic women and we already have a deeper relationship than people I have known for a long time.

My conclusion is this... Catholics are family. I have always known this but last night I was really feeling it. It doesn't matter where I go in my life because I will always have a home in the Church. How beautiful is that! So today as I sit on my couch still in my pajamas sipping on coffee and listening to the thunderstorm, I am thankful for the inspiring Catholics that God has put in my life!