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What do Al Golden (American football player and coach), Todd Marinovich (American football player and coach), Wilfred Mugeyi (Zimbabwean footballer and coach), and I all share in common?

We all were born on the exact same day. And I’m not just saying July 4th. I’m also saying the same year. Apparently the stars were aligned 55 years ago today to give rise to a number of people who like to kick things around and tell other people which direction to run. Certainly a good description for my mission in life.

So here is the way you get to Iona: First you fly to Edinburgh and then you catch a train to Glasgow, which is only like an hour. And then you catch a train to Oban three hours away, except this one doesn’t run as often and yours has been cancelled, so you sit under a statue of Sir Walter Scott for four hours in the middle of St. George Square trying to avoid pigeon droppings, and then you catch a train to Oban.

Maybe it surprises you to find out I’m in Scotland right now. It rather surprises me. I never had a particular desire to visit Scotland. Nothing against the country, but I’d heard it was rainy and cold… and rainy and cold have never quite been my thing. While working on Redeeming Power and considering the persons I wanted to profile at the end of each chapter, though, I got quite hooked on a Scottish saint: Margaret.

Last week my friend Fr. Pete took my son and I out after dinner for a drive into the hills behind Big Sandy, Montana approaching the Bear Paw Mountains. We had our binoculars in hand looking for elk and antelope and white tail deer. Happily saw all three!

I am now flying over Lake Michigan for the second time today. The first time was at 7 a.m. when departing Milwaukee for Minneapolis. The second time (now) is three hours later as I am flying from Minneapolis toward Pittsburgh. Trust me, I checked. There are no direct flights from Milwaukee to Pittsburgh. At least not on Delta. And I think you are all well aware at this point of my desire not to find myself in the same platinum pickle I did last December.

I have nothing against jazz, but I am not a big fan of it popping up during my morning reflection time when I have set my Apple Play to “Peaceful Nature Songs.” I am even less a fan when the song is called “Vivacious Cleaning.” I am not in the mood for cleaning, Apple. Or at least I wasn’t until that song came on and now the Scrubby Deutsch inside of me wants to go straighten up a bunch of loose ends.

It has always struck me as odd. Who goes fishing the week after one’s dearest friend has been crucified and then goes missing from his tomb? Well, the answer is Peter apparently. This coming Friday’s Gospel passage opens with Peter announcing, “I’m going fishing,” and then a number of Jesus’ other disciples joining in, “We are going with you.” Seriously? Fishing?

Embarrassing to admit, but this morning is the first time I’ve picked up my Give Us This Day in over a week. I can tell because of where the bookmark has been left. March 11. The first day of the Dominican Preaching Network symposium in St. Louis. When I travel, I always pack GUTD with noble intentions of having some sort of rhythm to the start of day and then…. Well, life happens. And last week lots of life happened.

My seven-year-old nephew is a bit of an old soul. Not long ago, he ended a call with me by saying, “Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you.” We aren’t sure where he comes from. Neither of his parents talk like this. Last summer when hearing his mom and dad discussing Lisa, the nurse who was caring for my dad, he chimed in from the back seat, “Lisa. Now there is a name you can trust.” Seriously.

Presidents’ Day Weekend is always a great time to travel, especially if you live in the blustery North and winter has begun to wear on one’s spirit. I do not live in the North. We have not seen snow in Georgia all year. But we did have one day in recent memory where it was 12 degrees and I am a weakling. That day alone was enough for me to book my ticket for sunny southern California.