Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad

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!

I know I haven’t written here for a while. My apologies to the both of you who’ve been following. I felt like posting. This afternoon as I was taking out the trash, my next door neighbor came to the fence to talk to me. Nothing out of the ordinary there. We talk at the fence all the time. He simply said, “My wife passed this morning at 5:44 AM.” As he said this, he teared up and walked away. I love these two people. I’ve lived next door to them for eight years. Best neighbors anyone could ever ask for. She suffered a heart attack 10 days ago. She was 74. Almost every morning during the last 8 years I’ve come onto my front porch with my coffee to take in the day and she’d come outside to fetch her newspaper. We’d say hi, compliment each other’s lawns and go about our business. Please keep them in your prayers.

Readers of this page (the five of you, we’ve been growing!) are no doubt aware that I crave attention. I mean, why else would someone write a blog? I use a pseudonym because I fear criticism. See, my life explained in two lines.

When I started writing these stories over a decade ago, I started to notice that my posts were receiving comments from a handful of people. Generally speaking they were positive. “Loved the story!” “So funny!” “You’re doing a bang-up job!” That last one was from a reader in England. In the 1940’s. But one commenter would take the time to write out thoughtful messages about my content. She would leave notes that were truly from the heart and that encouraged me to keep writing. “You have an audience, now,” she would remind me. “You can’t let them down.” Lest anyone think there’s any funny business here, this woman is the mom of a friend of mine. And as all mothers ought to do, she took whatever good she saw in my writing and amplified it and I have always appreciated that.

So today I want to wish my friend Ann and her husband a very happy 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! In your honor, I will finish (finally) the saga of Sister. I hope that your day is bright and filled with joy. I went to mass this morning and offered my intention for you. It’s the least I could do considering all the times you’ve taken my prayers to the “pink sisters”. Good bless you and keep you.

And for heaven’s sake, please keep reading!