Circle of Friends - The Boilermaker Years

I love the movie Circle of Friends starring Chris O'Donnell, Minnie Driver, and Colin Firth (Oscar winner of The King's Speech).  I love the story, the scenery, and the language.  For those of you not familiar with the movie, Minnie Driver plays Benny Hogan, a girl from a small village in Ireland who is very unsure of herself.  She and her best friend Eve start at university in Dublin and while Eve makes the complete transition to Dublin, Benny is strongly encouraged by her parents to take the "10 past 6" bus home every night.  At university, Benny becomes a member of a group of students made up of Aiden, Jack, and Nan.  Jack is the star rugby player and an unlikely friendship turned romance blooms between Jack and Benny.  However, there are several challenges which the group overcomes and forces some of them to experience adult responsibilities before they are completely ready.  It is a wonderful movie and whenever I catch it on TV, I always have to stop and watch.

I just finished the book (with the same title) that the movie is based upon.  The author is Maeve Binchey and I really enjoyed her writing.  She made me a part of the story and provided more insight into the various character relationships.  As with all movies based on books, Circle of Friends does not follow the story completely.  All of the important points are there - Simon Westward (played by Colin Firth), Jack and Benny's relationship, and the ball at the Hibernian.  But the ending was very different, which was a slight disappointment to me (and I won't spoil it here - Go read the book!!).  But all in all, it was very good.

I have my own "Circle of Friends" from college.  There is Mark (one of my college roommates, a huge fan of fantasy genre, and new parent to a son), Sherri (my friend that still manages to hold onto her youthful ways with a mature attitude) and Trent (my fellow Lafayette native who is a parent of a 6 year old girl who is going to give him nightmares about boys when she is a teenager).  Mark and his wife live with their almost 8 month old son in Maryland.  Mark is my lone fellow engineer and understands better than most (except for my husband Jeff) how my mind works.  Sherri and her wife, Ali, live in Indianapolis.  Sherri is the one who brought a touch of spontaneity to my life.  And Trent, who lives with his wife in Lafayette, was the frat boy who brought a twisted sense of reality to everything.  We get together every Christmas at BW3 on the Levee in West Lafayette and have done this for 10 plus years now; it allows us to catch up on our current lives and lets us relive some of the adventures we all had together at Purdue.  Since we are all married, the spouses and sometimes the kids join for lunch.  Throughout the year, Facebook and email allow us to keep up to date with each other.

And then there is my friend Joe.  He is not part of the group that gets together every Christmas, but still part of my college circle.  Joe and I became friends on the way to our calculus final our freshman year at Purdue.  If you are ever in O'Fallon or the St. Louis area and need a good optometrist, I recommend him.  He was the one that introduced me to Gino's East in Chicago and helped me purchase my high-end stereo (which is now obsolete).  I remember one 4th of July, we sat by Lake Michigan for 5-6 hours waiting for the fireworks to begin.  We had seats right at the lake front and he was able to take some fantastic pictures of the fireworks bursting in the sky.  After the fireworks, we walked down the middle of Lake Shore Drive back to his apartment.  How many times can you say you did that in Chicago?  Did I mention that he is also a photographer?  So if you are in the St. Louis/O'Fallon, MO area and need wedding photos or family pictures, definitely look him up.  He is the father of two beautiful little girls who are also going to give him trouble when they are older. 

Joe, Mark, Trent, and Sherri make up my circle of friends from college.  We have kept in touch during the 17 years that we have graduated from Purdue, gone to each other's weddings, celebrated the births of our children, and shared the pain of losing a parent.  But through it all, we have remained friends, reaching out to each other at birthdays, to proofread resumes, or just say hello.  As I finished Maeve Binchey's book, Circle of Friends, I wondered if Benny, Eve, Jack, Aiden, and Nan all were able to remain friends after they moved on and left university.  Did they get together once a year or keep in touch?  I hope they did as we all deserve to have a circle of friends around us.

Rev. Maurice Miller & I am a Ballplayer!

As the Catholic community in Lafayette knows, we lost the epitome of priests on June 1, 2011, Father Miller.  I will always have fond memories of Father Miller.  He always was in the back of church to greet you before mass and after mass, always sang or hummed the hymn, and never forgot a name.  He was the glue that held the parish together during three transitions of pastors.  He always brought a smile to my face, especially when he would wear his Notre Dame pants on Football Saturdays (while the majority of the parish wore Old Gold and Black) and ask Jeff, "Say, how about those Boilers."

I have a special memory of Father Miller, actually two, but one that I will never forget.  One of Father Miller's most special characteristics was the love he felt for his fellow man - Catholic, non-Catholic, Christian, or non-Christian - and he was there for all of us whether we were healthy or not.  One of his priestly ministries that he took very seriously was visiting the sick.  When our son Jacob was born in January 2006, Father Michael McKinley was pastor of St. Ann's and fighting for his life due to a ruptured appendix in St. Elizabeth Hospital on the other side of town.  On our last day in Home Hospital, Father Miller came to see Jacob and I to pray with us and offer a blessing.  I remember standing beside Father Miller as he gave Jacob his first blessing and will never forget the feeling of peace that he provided.  From that day on, he always asked about Jacob and would always call him by his first and middle name - Jacob Matthew.  And as a small repayment of the many favors and prayers that he offered, we have added him to our nightly prayer asking that God grant him peace and special blessings.

In other news, Jacob has been playing baseball in the Lafayette Shetland league for 4 & 5 year olds.  The first game was pretty much organized chaos.  Whenever the ball was hit by the opposing team, our entire team tried to field it, no matter how close or far the ball was to them.  In just four games, the kids have really improved.  Now only 2-3 kids try to field the ball instead of the entire team of 13 and many of the kids can almost throw the ball from 2nd base to first base without hitting the ground.  At the last game, the big thing between both teams was to slide into home plate (for those of you that don't know, the kids are not supposed to slide).  I am by no means a sports fan, but I have really enjoyed watching the games and cheering for all of the players - from our team or the opposing team.  Jacob has gotten a lot better also at hitting, fielding, and throwing.  He is not (and probably won't be) a Ryne Sandberg or Clayton Richards, but in his words, "I am a ballplayer, Mom!".

I would like to commend the coaches also - Mr. Shipman, Mr. Munn, and Mr. Siemers.  They have all been wonderful with the kids and working with them to improve.  Just would like to say - Great Job, Guys!!