Hello everyone, I am 65 years young, married for 43 years to the same man, an ER physician. I live in northern California in the Emerald Triangle although I am not a "farmer". My son is 25 and living in L.A. I am a retired biochemist/nutritionist from the amino acid lab at University of Wisconsin.
I am a cradle Catholic from a dysfunctional family of 6 (4 kids.) Despite all the pain we experienced from my parents' alcoholism (deceased), I will be forever grateful to them for raising me a strict Catholic--12 years Catholic School. There was only the Latin Mass at that time in Cleveland which abounded with ethnic Catholics. (Go Indians)
I left the Church when I was 21 so that I could be a "modern woman". You can guess what that entailed, although it could have been worse. I was a secular humanist for 27 years and then returned to a Church I did not recognize or like. Appalling. I attended regularly for my son's sake as did my husband.
Three years ago I became profoundly depressed, entertained thoughts of ending it all.When the Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima came to our church, I felt compelled to go to her and beg for help. A couple days later, I offered God the broken pieces of my brain and received the knowledge that I should start antidepressants. Since my university work had involved brain neurotransmitters, I had absolutely refused to take anything. I followed the Lord's direction and gradually saw massive improvement. A very large part of my healing came locating and attending a Tridentine Mass an hour and a half away from me.
In truth, I have dropped off the planet; as the Lord said, leave everyone and everything and follow Me. As bad as that may sound it is immensely peaceful and I feel very close to my heavenly family. I guess I should add that my husband has polar opposite beliefs and we are each other's crosses at this time. The only thing we can talk about is major league sports (go Warriors, Cavs, and Indians.) So I have good days and cry all day episodes.
Well, I believe in being very open about life now since I truly feel we are running out of time before the "Minor" Chastisement (Fr. Bernard Kramer and Desmond Birch). Sorry for such a long post. I look forward to reading thoughtful opinions and hope to find some like-minded souls. JMJ gg