30+ degrees of separation

Blogging from Phoenix for the next few days and I went from this:

to this:

Internet, don’t let anyone tell you Phoenix has a dry heat. It is M-F H.O.T. here. The best way to describe it is to put a pillow over your mouth and try to breathe.

I lived here for 4 years. I biked to work for one year. I trained for two half marathons during the summers. I hiked mountains on a weekly basis here. I seriously don’t know how I did it. There’s a medical myth that your blood thins when you live in a warm environment. That’s not it. It’s just your heat tolerance, just like a tolerance you build up for alcohol. When I lived here, my heat tolerance on a scale from 1-10 was probably a 9.5. Now, it’s a 5!

I had a company meeting today, but last night after I flew in, I went to church at St. Gregory’s and out to Hamburger Works with my S-G peeps. It amazes me how much this community makes me feel so much “at home” even after all these years. Each of these people had a great significance in my life. We do not keep in touch regularly and see each other even less, but that’s okay. The bond is still there.

Sunday was a significant day for St. Greg’s. For those of you who aren’t Catholic, you may not understand this jibberish. But the Holy Cross order took over St. Greg’s from the diocese right when I moved out to Phoenix through the Holy Cross Associate volunteer program in 2000. Holy Cross often comes into parishes like that. It’s an interesting concept, but I can tell you from experience that it makes a world of difference. The Holy Cross order is da bomb in my opinion. I can’t even begin to tell you the significant role they played in my own life. Anyways, Holy Cross is leaving St. Greg’s after 9 years. It’s sad, but the parish is strong now and the community will most definitely keep it at the caliber it is now.

I'll blog again soon as long as I don't melt here.