Felix went to the doctor yesterday because he has a cough that won't quit. It turned out to be a medical morning as i spent it at the dentist. Home from the Dr. Felix announces that he has allergies. Now i'm here to tell you that if you lived in my house and were allergic to dust or dogs you'd be dead. With two big hairy huskies in an 100+ year old house dust and dog hair prevails. Felix digs out the heppa air purifiers and begins to vacuum; i start to polish the furniture. i happen upon my old reggae albums. i dust of my record player and begin to listen to my Jah Malla album. The music takes me back but as i listen to the lyrics with biblical knowledge i realize we prayed these lyrics at my Catholic Church this past week. Even when i strayed i never strayed far from my roots. NJ is not RI not by a long shot and i find myself clinging to my italian hippie roots more and more. As a kid i knew that no matter how bad i was or the week went, i could go to mass at Saint Bart's or Saint Anthony's and i could hope for a better week. There was a sense of comfort and stability knowing that no matter how far i roamed i could always go to those churches and things would be exactly the same. i went off to college and graduate school and by the end of graduate and law school knowledge and money were our gods and we evolved from hippies into yuppies. Life has a way of beating us up our quest for professionalism landed us in New Brunswick,NJ. Never did we need our Catholic faith more. It has sustained us through the deaths of all of our parents, the birth of our daughter and hundreds of joys ands disappointments. As we sit here tonight in our deferred dusted house, i think of us two hippies who found each other in Providence RI and ended up in Metuchen NJ. Indeed, what a long strang trip it's been.
