A Trad Dad Makes His Tepid Debut

The astute observer of this blog will note that it has been 7 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days since I last posted. That post was about my next door neighbor and how she had died earlier that day. Prior to that I had been working on finishing a fanciful tale of a friend who had visited during the Texas blizzard and blackout. Prior to that I had been trying to get a podcast off the ground. The podcast was about my experience quitting my career in education to homeschool my own kids. It didn’t attract much of an interest and yet I kind of want to jump back into it. And prior to that, I was living what I will now call “Harvey Millican 1.0”.

So first a few quick updates. That neighbor? Well, thank you for praying for her soul. Shortly after that day, my family and I traveled (as is our custom) to the east coast where we stayed for about five weeks. The day we returned my neighbor’s widower husband also died. Broken heart was the likely culprit but the clot shot could just as easily be to blame. What a shock to me. These two were the epitome of Texas charm, hospitality, and good neighbor-ing. May they both rest in peace. As for the Tale of Sister? Don’t worry. It will be finished. I’m just looking for the right direction so I can seamlessly weave together the restoration of a major power grid, a thaw of epic proportions, JR Ewing, and an ex-claustrated Carmelite nun.

And then there’s me. Yes, me, the guy who’s been writing these pages on and off for over a decade, always chronicling what it’s been like for me as a Catholic, a man, a husband, and most importantly a dad raising my family. Sometimes in life we lose direction a little. Sometimes we just need a hiatus, a little nap if you will. Over the past few days I’ve been really itching to get back to writing. But the time off has been very good for me.

Many of you know that I worked in a newsroom in New York in my 20’s. I always had a love for that kind of writing. Although you’d never guess by my 2500-word ramblings, there is something exhilarating to me about sitting down and banging out written news and commentary. Some of you will also recall that I began writing this blog as a travel diary for my kids to read one day. We travel. We love the open road. We have unique adventures. A few of you might even know that in the past few years I, well, I “tradded”. If you don’t know, that simply means that I started going to the Traditional Latin Mass. Over the four intervening years, I really tradded. I have found in this mass my heritage and I found a respite and remedy for the insanity of the past fifty years of Catholicism. I can’t explain it in a few words… So look for many posts forthcoming on that experience.

I’ve always believed that if a man writes about what he loves, his writing will be lovely. So what have we got?

And that’s what I think I’m going to write about from now on. It shouldn’t be much different. Although I’ve been inspired by the likes of Ann Barnhardt and Mundabor and Les Femmes and Canon212 (all excellent blogs, by the way), I don’t hope to jump into the fray for the sake of adding yet another voice to the trad commentary blogosphere. No, it’s simply that I love writing and these are the things I love writing about. If I lose subscribers (as surely I will) then so be it. The reality is that this blog will not change much in essence. We’ll still take our road trips. I’ll still homeschool the kids. You’ll hear a little more about “church-y” things. And I’m turning off the comments. AP, you know how to email me.

First up: I’ll be bringing you a series in real time of our cross-country drive stopping at TLM parishes across America complete with pictures and a little background.

So, I hope you’ll stick with me. And if I do re-launch that podcast with my sisters you’ll be the first to know.

Deo Gratias! Sit semper Deo gratias!