This weekend, when my sister and I were in PA, there was a Kenny Chesney concert in Pittsburgh that evening, My cousin Molly, who was staying in downtown Pittsburgh, was telling us about all the Chesney fans that were checking into her hotel in cowboy hats carrying cases of beer. My aunt explained that last year, the city was left a such mess after his concert, that this year they were handing out trash bags and limiting the amount of tailgating time before the concert. Sounds like quite the time.

My cousin Mike mentioned that he and his wife went to see John Mellencamp  a small, more intimate setting yet people were screaming and carrying on like they were in an outdoor or much larger venue. They thought that was a bit much. Additionally, Mellencamp wanted to play songs from his new album, where most people could care less about the new album and wanted to hear all the songs they knew. It’s true, you want to hear the songs you know when you go to a concert. After all, most people don’t buy tickets based on music they think they will like but rather on music they know they like.

I remember going to a Tom Petty concert right after he released his album, Into the Great Wide Open.  It was memorable on a few levels. First, it was right after smoking was banned from arenas. My friend Stacey commented that our seats were pretty good when in fact, they were still basically nose-bled seats but without the smoke you could actually see the stage. Secondly, there was a great, wide divide in the audience – those of us who had been Petty fans for years and those who had just discovered him through this new album. It was sort of funny to see how distinct the split was.

I’ve been lucky enough to go to a number of concerts and over the new few days, will feature some of the folks I’ve seen. Today, I’ve picked a tune from Tom Petty, “Free Fallin.”  I’ve had the chance to see Petty in concert 3 or 4 times. Always a great concert.

It is the first week of June, in comes the heat and also the participants in the Washington Ireland Program (WIP). As many of you know, I worked at WIP for a few years before moving onto to 4-H. It is hard to describe just how many wonderful people I met through the WIP program and I’m so fortunate to continue to be in touch with so many of the participants and host families and still be part of the WIP family. I like to joke that WIP is like Hotel California – you can check out but you can never leave.

Started over 20 years ago, WIP has supported the peace and reconciliation efforts in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Identifying young people with a commitment to service and a track record of leadership, WIP builds their skills through work experience, educational opportunity, and hands-on citizenship both at home and in the US. Through these efforts, WIP is building the next generation of leaders that will achieve a peaceful, stable and prosperous future for Northern Ireland and Ireland. (stolen directly from the WIP website – http://www.wiprogram.org).

The WIP participants will spend 8 weeks here at job placements, living with host families and attending a lot of talks and events. They will make you once again appreciate Washington DC as a city, as they explore it with fresh eyes. It is a long 8 weeks and yet a short 8 weeks.

If you’ve ever participated either as an exchange student or as a Host Family, I think you will understand the impact of a program like this has on the participants and those who support the participants. It is a once in a lifetime experience for everyone involved.

It is amazing to see people grow in their time here and return home more confident, with more skills and hopefully with a better appreciate for other’s opinions. You don’t have to agree with each other, but you have to try to understand a different point of view and look for common themes. Isn’t that what we hope our current and future leaders will do?

WIP alums have gone on to do many things. They are in medicine, arts, politics and business. They are continuing their educations. They are working in non-profits. You can see their footprints all over the world.

One year, Jonsi’s song “Go Do” was an unofficial theme song. I listened to it over and over. I actually couldn’t even understand the lyrics, I just liked the song. There is one line “Go do, you’ll learn to Just let yourself, fall into landslide.” Sometimes that landslide is something huge, like the recent vote for same-sex marriage in Ireland and sometimes that landslide is letting your own prejudices slip away. Whatever it is, just Go Do!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5VgLOs0LwQ

(All viewpoints are my own. No endorsement of these views by WIP is implied.)

As I mentioned yesterday, my sister and I were visiting relatives this past weekend. We were chatting about names and who’s named after what relative etc.

My sister, Kathleen, is named after our grand aunt, Kathleen. Until Saturday, we referred to her as our great aunt, but now we know better. She was my grandmother’s sister. My sister is only Kathleen to family or people who’ve known her since before she entered the 4^th grade. It was there, that the teacher, overwhelmed with Kathleens in her class, gave her the nickname Kathy. We have two other Kathys in our family and we refer to them still by their last names – “Cathy Jackman” or “Kathy O’Kane” so we can keep them straight.  We had to keep my sister as Kathleen or we’d have had two Kathy O’Kanes.

I was named after my great-grandmother’s sister Ellen. My grandmother, Helen, was supposed to be named Ellen but when her father took her to the priest to be baptized (no moms allowed), he put a “h” in front of Ellen (blamed on his brogue) and she came home Helen. You couldn’t really tell the priest there was a mistake, so she remained Helen. My niece Helen is named after her.

We have a number of Noras in our family. My Gramdma O’Kane was Nora, my cousin Molly has it as a middle name, I have another cousin named Nora and Saturday we met the newest Nora, a 7^th month old, who is a cousin, twice removed (again, learned this on Saturday). I love how we sound so fancy with all the grands, greats and removeds.

My daughter Kathryn is not necessarily named after anyone but luckily both sides were able to say there was a Kathryn on that side, so we pleased everyone. People ask how we chose the spelling and I like to say it is because we weren’t too sure how smart she would be so we went for the shorter version (Kathryn versus Katherine). She loves that.

Naming a child isn’t easy. So many things to consider. First you have to weed through all the names you hate because of their association with another person by that name and then you have to worry whether people will be able to pronounce the name correctly. Is there a bad rhyme that could cause the child embarrassment? Growing up, I always thought my name, Ellen O’Kane, was easy enough but I had people call me Eileen Oaken. Or they would say O-con-y, instead of O’Kane. Then, when I got married, I thought Motley was pretty straight forward but I get Moatley all the time.

It thought Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name” was appropriate for today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHVBzLGAIbU

My sister and I went to PA for the weekend to visit my Aunt and Uncle. My Aunt Grace is the last of my father’s siblings still alive. It is always a great time to visit her and my Uncle Jack. Fun to hear the stories of her and her siblings and fun to reminisce on old family stories. I think each time we visit, I learn a new factoid about my dad or one of his siblings.

My cousin Molly was also in town watching her 7 month old granddaughter, Nora. She joined us and we started a conversation on how we all were related to Nora. We figured my Aunt Grace was a great, great aunt and my sister and I were second cousins, once removed – or something like that. Turns out we were wrong. My Aunt Grace is a grand aunt and I think we are just second cousins; I’ve already forgotten. Molly’s husband is into genealogy and he was able to explain to us via text, our correct titles.

We spent the evening going over some old films my cousin Sue had put onto CD and my Aunt explained who everyone was in the films. We took a few pictures from it. I’ve included the one of my dad that looks like he should have been in one of the vampire movies. Sorta scary.

It was a great visit and we look forward to our next time together. I thought today, after a weekend of stories about my dad and his family, I would play one of his favorite songs from my IPod. He bought me the album that this song is from and I still have it. Just nothing to play it on.

Mike and Kristina will be embarking on a cross country trip in a week or so. Kristina will be starting a new job banding owls about an hour outside of Fresno. They are taking 5-6 days to drive out to CA.

I’ve been joking and finding the worst music I can find – Hello Kitty soundtracks, Dora the Explorer music – you name it, anything I can think of that will drive Mike nuts. I’ve suggested 40 hours of continuous Sesame Street music as well.

The truth is, when you are traveling, the music is important. Some music I can’t stand if I’m stuck in traffic. You’d think if I normally liked it, I would be fine sitting listening but for some reason, I get aggravated.

One time, my sister, dad and I were driving to NY for a family reunion. We were stuck in heavy traffic and my sister insisted on listening to NPR instead of music. I was willing to listen to the Spanish station – anything but the drone of some story about foreclosed homes in Arizona interrupted with requests for money as it was during their annual fund-raising campaign. I announced if they asked for money one more time I would scream in the car. They asked, I screamed. “That’s it,” my Dad said, sort of laughing, both out of shock and fear that I’d gone insane. He told my sister to change the station. Of course, there was nothing better on. Back to the damn foreclosures.

When I worked for a property management firm in Richmond, I would travel once a week to Charlottesville, where we had another property. The Eagles were my go to group for the trip. I’m not sure how I got into the habit of listening to only the Eagles during those trips, but that was the routine.

Today I’m taking a road trip with my sister to visit my Aunt and Uncle in PA. We take this trip a few times a year but instead of listening to the radio, we just talk. No one asks for money. It’s grand.

This afternoon I had a wonderful visit and lunch with my sister and a longtime family friend, Anna. Anna treated us to a fabulous lunch at L’Auberge Chez François. I can’t recommend the food or the atmosphere enough. It was really a wonderful meal and wonderful opportunity to catch up.

This year, instead of your typical New Year’s resolution, I decided to try and actually see more of my friends in person. Believe me, this is more fun and achievable than promising to exercise or diet!

I had the opportunity to see a lifelong friend Teri in March. Time and distance might separate the actual times we are together, but nothing changes the familiarity we have as such old friends. I’ve come together with friends to say goodbye to others. Sad times softened by the warmth of friendships.

I’m lucky enough to have friends who keep traveling back to DC, so I have the chance to see them more often than I otherwise would and there’s nothing better than hearing news of impending visits. This St. Patrick’s Day saw lots of my Irish and Northern Irish friends here in town. It was such a great few days.

The year is still not halfway over, so watch out! I hope to see you all this year.

Today, I’m picking Amy Grant’s “Stay for A While.”

Stay for awhile
Well it’s good to see Your smile
And I love your company
Stay for awhile
And remember the days gone by
For a moment it can seem
Just the way it used to be

Recently, I saw Eddie Money in a commercial. I think at this point, the only tickets he’s going to be getting are to heaven. I’ve been seeing more and more commercials with “older” celebrities. They’ve even brought back Col. Sanders. Was anyone missing him?

I guess the point is to relate to us baby boomers. We are older now, have money and now advertisers are looking to get some of it from us. Sure, it is great to hear songs you loved years ago but bringing back heart throbs (not referring to the Col.) and seeing how they’ve aged, isn’t doing it for me. Partially because I don’t see myself as getting older and partially because I don’t like to see how old others seem, especially when I now realize they aren’t that much older than I am!

This is how I want to think of Eddie – from the IPod today,

I recently found out that there isn’t marriage in heaven. Now we all know why it’s called Heaven! Just kidding…

Apparently this is noted in the Bible but as I mentioned before, my bible knowledge isn’t that great so when I heard this, it was a surprise.  Some people take this in stride and others are unsettled by this. I guess I never really thought about it before.

If I had to describe heaven, it would be look just like Medicine Lake in Jasper, Alberta. That’s my vision. When I taught Religious Education, one Sunday I asked my 3^rd graders to draw pictures of what they thought heaven would be like. As you would expect, it was filled with lots of huge TVs, video games and in one case, SpongeBob. Let’s hope there’s an adult section.

Since Easter weekend, two friends from high school have passed away. I’m hoping they are resting in whatever they thought heaven would be like and if they didn’t think much about it, I hope it has turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Today’s song from my IPod is from Mary Chapin Carpenter “In My Heaven.”

Medicine Lake

Saturday we got the news. Ireland became the first country to in the world – that’s in the world – to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. When I read the headlines, I smiled and thought “Wow, you did it.” I’m not sure the “you” I meant was the country as a whole or my friends who tirelessly campaigned for equal marital rights for their countrymen and women.

I know many people do not approve or support same-sex marriage rights, mostly for religious reasons. I don’t agree with that but I understand the thought process. I just feel with so much hate in the world, why are we critical of people who love and care for each other? I’m willing to take my chances at the pearly gates, should I get that far.  If I get turned away because I embraced my friends and family who had loving relationships, maybe with someone of the same sex, I will be thankful that this was the worst thing God could say about me.

As a Catholic, I’m interested in seeing how the church responses to Ireland’s vote. I’m sure the church wasn’t thrilled with the outcome.  As many others my age, I grew up in the church at a time where Catholics were not really expected or encouraged to read the bible. We went to church and were told what it all meant. This, combined with some well meaning, but ineffective religious ed teachers, has left me with a less than stellar knowledge of the bible. So when I volunteered to teach Religious Ed, I took a class on the bible.

The class was pretty interesting and I was holding my own until we came upon the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Turns out those are cities, not a gay couple as I always thought. I don’t know exactly why I thought they were a couple but I knew they were very bad. VERY BAD. And given how the church feels about gays, I just assumed they were a couple. When I expressed my surprise we were discussing cities, not people, I could see the color drain from the teacher’s face. I’m sure he went home, had a stiff drink and said a few dozen Hail Mary’s for me. I’m hoping the next generation or two would never consider that story to be about people – not just from knowledge but from a place where the church wouldn’t have such a harsh stand on same-sex relationships.

I’ve always been a Janis Ian fan (again, I’m a child of the 70’s, what can I say?) and I’ve always loved this song off her album Billie’s Bones, “What I Lay Down”. The last verse is my favorite:

I dreamed my life was over
and they laid me in my grave
I was frightened of forever
and the price I’d have to pay
And I thought that God would hate me
’cause I’d lived my life in sin,
but I felt the truth embrace me
as heaven let me in

We are all sinners. Some are bigger sins than others but I can’t believe loving and caring for another human will be the worst when the time comes to show what we’ve done on earth.

Today is Memorial Day, the day Americans set aside for remembering the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces.

From my viewpoint, it is a day to put aside your political, religious and other views and just say a prayer of thanks for those who have served and died protecting the freedoms we enjoy. Say a prayer of comfort and strength for those families that have lost their loved one(s) and say a prayer asking for safety for all those men and women currently serving.

I don’t really have any patriotic songs on my IPod but I thought that Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High on the Mountain” would be a good choice for today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jXrmAKBBTU