May 21st is the feastday of Eugène de Mazenod, the Patron Saint of Dysfunctional Families. He was born in Aix-en-Provence to minor nobility who lost their wealth during the Revolution. He preached in Provençal to the common people and eventually became bishop of Marseille.
Who knew there was a saint for families like ours, that put the 'fun' in dysfunctional !?!
I must go to confession before Lent is over and in case the French confession phone line, le Fil du Seigneur, closes down at Easter as threatened. As opposed to the phone-in confession line that charges 0.34 euros per minute, blog confessions are free. However, on my blog you can't select an option to hear the confessions of others like you can at Le Fil du Seigneur.
I won't tell you how long it's been since my last confession. But I will say I am heartily sorry for being a bad blogger. It's always hard to get back to the blog after being in France; you know how difficult the withdrawal is after you return.
The excuses:
- post-Paris depression
- my good friend died
- family problems (don't get me started)
- household major appliance revolt
- getting plastered (my walls, not myself)
- month long jury duty on a local gang murder trial
- and finally, the piratage
My email was hacked and the offender had all my mail forwarded to him (the gender is an assumption on my part; the pirate had a male name). The evildoer, that dirty scélérat, sent out a message under my name requesting funds to help rescue me after being mugged in Wales. And the message was not received by everyone in my address book or even those most recently contacted, but by a hodge-podge of old and new correspondents. After spending buckets of time untangling and correcting the mess, I found myself estranged from email and posting. It had become hostile territory or like a bad boyfriend.
Now that I've confessed, I feel better, much better than after the Catholic confessions of my youth with all their "through my fault, through fault, through my most grievous fault" repetitions.
My penance is to post two entries today. The next one includes my favorite French cartoon, today's parting gift.
