La Comida Mexicana

So following in the line of one of my favorite Priests, I thought I would devote a post to the wonderful food of Mexico that I ate. No, this wasn't at a four-star restaurant. But it was still good!!





Above you find a dish that I had at a family's home after Mass. There was some beef and a wonerful sauce, chicken in a green sauce, and plenty of rice. Oh yes, and don't forget the tortillas that were homemade and a lot thicker than they are here! To drink was an apple-flavored soda. Think Orange Soda, but instead of orange it was apple. Imagine that!!

...while we feasted on this, the rest of the group was back at the Church, in the sun, eating PB&J's! No pity for them...




Above we see a picture of your's truly enjoying his food!!



In Mexico, we do not want to drink the water. If you do, I hear it is not pretty. So when we were passing through downtown Jackson, I exclaimed, "LOOK! It's drinkable water!!!"

Me? Ispiring?

You never know who you have in your midst or what they have accomplished and what they can teach you. Today I attended the funeral of a friend of ours, Harold Ratchford. My dad and I met Hal about a year ago at the Mississippi Braves baseball games. He had a seat next to us and as we got to talking found out that we attend the same church. I never knew much about him or what he does until now however. It ends up that, as my mom said, he was a “hero in our midst”. And we didn’t even know it.

Hal was a veteran of World War II. After that, he entered the FBI and was eventually sent down to Mississippi in the 60’s. I can only imagine the cases he looked into and the work he had. But as soon as he moved down here, he introduced himself to the priest of St Richard Parish, Monsignor Chatham. After he retired from the FBI, he began to work for the Mississippi Attorney General, even to this day. I wish I had known all of this because I would have loved to have talked to him about it.

Hal died of a sudden heart attack at home. I still don’t think that it has set in that I will never see him again at the games. He always was very talkative and supportive of me and always had a smile on your face. AG Jim Hood said, “He would have arrested you with a smile on your face.”

When I introduced myself to his family, they were all so appreciative of my presence. Apparently Hal had told them all about me and how much he enjoyed seeing me (and my father, of course) at the baseball games. I didn’t think that much of going to the funeral today until they all showed their deep appreciation.

My point—no matter how little you do, you can still have a huge impression on a person and/or their family. We all impress and inspire each other in our daily actions, whether we know it or not. Now imagine how much more inspiring the world would be if we all acted according to that idea? There would be many many more Hal Ratchfords!