Greeks and Catholics
Dang I guess I should have figured on getting emails from folks who know that Greeks ain't tend to be Roman Catholics and concerned about the Pope. Actually your emails were sent to me from Ray, because he has a public email address due to his old advice column and that was the only way folks could get in touch. Anyhow.
You got to understand that when junk and brains cross the Atlantic a lot gets lost in the mix. Gramma K is old-school Greek, but she was sold into indentured servitude at birth (Pueblo, Colorado) and brought up in a Roman Catholic household, as was Uncle George, her brother. That's why we are Greek but observe the schedule of the papacy. We ain't got much to do with the Orthodoxy.
I think you might agree that religion is one part inheritance and one part emotional problems. I sat around during this Pope stuff and I just thought that it was too bad that an old man had died; I didn't feel like a deep emotion in my bones. An old dude who had a good life died, but still who ever wants to shuffle off, you know. Nobody does. The Pope shuffled off, and at his last moments he probably didn't want to go, but he knew his stuff was shuttin' down, and his death chemicals were releasin', tryin' to alleviate him from pain. The dude faced it and he knew it. The bravest thing we ever do, half-conscious debutantes to the circles of death, is roll down that last aisle. I guess it's more like an escalator, actually, since you ain't in control of the speed.
Anyhow I guess I am glad that is over. Gramma K has done all her ceremonial rites and stuff and we ain't got to act all reverent or quiet around her. It won't be a few weeks before she is making her horrible unsalted soda bread again and also giving us jars of plums packed in air.
You got to understand that when junk and brains cross the Atlantic a lot gets lost in the mix. Gramma K is old-school Greek, but she was sold into indentured servitude at birth (Pueblo, Colorado) and brought up in a Roman Catholic household, as was Uncle George, her brother. That's why we are Greek but observe the schedule of the papacy. We ain't got much to do with the Orthodoxy.
I think you might agree that religion is one part inheritance and one part emotional problems. I sat around during this Pope stuff and I just thought that it was too bad that an old man had died; I didn't feel like a deep emotion in my bones. An old dude who had a good life died, but still who ever wants to shuffle off, you know. Nobody does. The Pope shuffled off, and at his last moments he probably didn't want to go, but he knew his stuff was shuttin' down, and his death chemicals were releasin', tryin' to alleviate him from pain. The dude faced it and he knew it. The bravest thing we ever do, half-conscious debutantes to the circles of death, is roll down that last aisle. I guess it's more like an escalator, actually, since you ain't in control of the speed.
Anyhow I guess I am glad that is over. Gramma K has done all her ceremonial rites and stuff and we ain't got to act all reverent or quiet around her. It won't be a few weeks before she is making her horrible unsalted soda bread again and also giving us jars of plums packed in air.
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