A Prayer for Owen Meany - by John Irving

My daughter asked me to read this book several months ago, and I began it but let other things get in the way of finishing it. She urged me many times to read it. She studied the book during this past year, her junior year at a Catholic high school. She has asked me many times if I had started reading the book again.

This week I did read the book; I started the book again and just now finished the last page within the past hour. Holly and I went out to lunch today and talked a LOT about the book - then I was on page 485. There was a lot she couldn't tell me. There were some things I suspected also. I was wondering how so much could get wrapped up in only another 100 or so pages. I was worried that I would not be moved by the ending since so much was all about the ending. With as much as I did discern from the hints given by the book, I was glad that I did not foresee the most affecting aspect of the book's end. It's the kind of thing that you just don't want to talk about. In fact, I felt like I could not talk to ANYONE for several hours during and after reading the end of this book.

That's just an example of how much the book does affect one. It's been so long since I have read any fiction and this book will certainly change that. The nature of what I do for a living is so different from a book like this that it's a welcome and refreshing and inspiring and comforting thing to spend time with these characters and this story.

I don't know if this is just my own projection, but after reading the book and the blurbs on the back from various newspapers describing the book, these descriptions did not match my experience of the book. It was a profoundly sad, lonely, painful, and tragic story from start to finish - for almost every character in the book.

I remember when I was very active in my first church, we all thought that no one else could understand faith or religion if they were not the exact same kind of believers that we were. I struggled with that back and forth and still do to this day but in a different way. To this day, regardless of where I stand on the religious pendulum of my inner world, I still feel surprised when I read a writer who is as familiar with scripture as we were with the same reverence and understanding and even belief yet without having to divorce himself from dismissing other people as not being true believers because of some doctrinal disagreement (doctrine extending to where one stands regarding homosexuality included).

Holly and I both feel like our little dog Oliver reminds us of Owen Meany because he is small, misshapen, afflicted in his own way with fatal flaws, and very funny and loving to his family and friends. If he could talk, his voice would be like Owen's. So to us, he is now Oliver Owen Meany, to which he would probably say, "I'M NOT A MEANY; DON'T CALL ME A MEANY."

One of my favorite expressions from this book is when Owen tells John that the book he read which covers the history of their town is FULL OF WHEELWRIGHTS. But one of the saddest parts of the book, to me, is that John Wheelwright ends up as the lone surviving Wheelwright, with only his stepfather as his occasional friend to visit twice a year, no other friends, no family, and his lifelong BEST friend a constant memory.

Now what I want to do is read what OTHERS (who know what they're talking about) have written about A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Next Time, I'm Driving

I thought about this before, during, and after the trip - even though I had to visit more than one state and go well over 500 miles, it would save time - AND a LOT of trouble - to just drive.

A flight means you leave for the airport about 2 hours and 15 minutes before the flight.

- Allow at least 45 minutes to make sure you get to the airport and park and get in the terminal.

- Then you have to be there before the plane departs - add up to 1 more hour to get through security and correct any last-minute problems.

- Then there's the flight - that was about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

- Then there's getting off the plane, getting a cab, getting to the hotel - that's another hour.

That all adds up to 5 hours but doesn't count another hour getting a car rental the next day. That ended up taking well over 1 hour...

Add one more hour or so, and I could have driven there - and avoided:

* Last-minute refusal to rent me a car - and subsequent efforts on my part to GET the car rented. I succeeded but it was not fun.

* Being stopped at airport security 2 times within 20 minutes at the same airport. First, I went back and checked my bag. Then on my 2nd time through, I was told to step aside to get patted down. I wanted to just leave but I was told that I couldn't leave. Then my wish to not be patted down in public was met with the implication that this could bring more problems upon myself for a lack of cooperation. So by that time, since they'd already rifled through my bag, and made me stand 2 times in some tube in an already awkward-at-best manner - I said "just go ahead and pat me down here."

This all happened on my way back, wearing the same thing, with no changes in what I presented at the departing airport, and with LESS in my bag than I'd left with.

I really dislike what happens these days at airport security because it touches a nerve of mine that definitely is a challenging one for me. I won't mention that here. Others probably share the feeling though!

Everything changes into a gestapo mentality. They even patted down my preteen daughter one time. I've found that the smaller the city, the more likely you are to run into overzealous airport security personnel.

This time I was originally driving - but was not able to get that alignment done before the trip; and had lots of work left to do - so I decided to fly. BEEEEEP. Wrong decision.

So next time - I'm driving!

If I have to fly again, I will NOT wear a bra in case THAT'S what brought on my woes. I won't bring anything that I value in terms of flash drives or anything else.

My experience was fairly run-of-the-mill even if it rubbed me the wrong way - but look at what happened to this MIT student:

Boston Airport LED Sweatshirt Scare - Interview with Star Simpson

FDA is Dissing Zicam - What???

You've got to be kidding me. The FDA says that Zicam can cause someone to lose their sense of smell.

They finally find a cure for the common cold - Zicam, which works like gangbusters - and now someone wants to shut it down. I sense a conspiracy. (ha) Zicam must be making a dent in doctor visits...

You SHOULD get Zicam; the best kind is the one that you use the Q-tip type applicator for... it has not hurt my sense of smell; I love the smell of perfume, roses, coffee, and not in that order, and my sense of smell is working fine!

Zicam rocks. It gets rid of your cold symptoms within one day. When you have a cold, it's not fun.

The FDA should spend their time on getting rid of the high sugar and starch content in fast food and outlaw drive-thru windows if they want to impact public health in a way that will really count!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program...