How often in our lives have we sought perfection? As students we needed to write that perfect paper to get the A we so desperately wanted. As professionals we may have wanted to deliver the perfect presentation so that our evaluations resonated with accolades. Even as parents, we may have tried to raise the perfect child.

It all sounds a bit shallow, doesn’t it? We know that the perfect paper is still in our thoughts waiting to be written. If we had achieved perfection in our writing, then, why continue? No matter how perfect a presentation, there would always be those who found reason to complain. As for the perfect child---well, we know that our role as parents is to help our children grow into caring, loving adults. Perfection has nothing to do with it. We want our children to be happy, not perfect!

By Pat Haggerty

I suffer from a malady that is shared by many.  It is the “could-a, would-a, should-a syndrome.”  This is often confused with the “if only syndrome.”  However, the former has many more symptoms.  The patient suffers more mental anguish with “could-a, would-a, should-a.”  There is much more introspection and more stress.  It is symptomatic of a Type A individual who analyzes everything and can’t let go.  Whereas, the person experiencing the “if only syndrome” does so for a shorter period of time.  There is a degree of discomfort associated with the illness, and the individual undergoes periods of frustration and concern.  In all honesty, the prognosis for becoming totally free of either illness is not good!

By Pat Haggerty

I don’t consider myself a movie buff, but I do enjoy watching a classic movie now and then.  One of my favorites is The Bells of Saint Mary’s starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.  For those unfamiliar with the film, it is about a parish priest and the sister superior who is in charge of the parish school, St. Mary’s.  One of their students, Patsy, writes an essay about the five senses.  The clincher of her essay was her explanation of the sixth sense---the sense of being or “to be.”  This, to Patsy, was the most important sense.

We associate so many things with our senses.  A simple aroma can trigger a thought or reminiscence.  Whenever I smell hamburger cooking, I think of my grandmother.  I have a mental picture of her cooking hamburger in her small kitchen for a casserole she was preparing.  It is a fond and lingering memory.

There are numerous smells and sounds of Christmas that we cherish as well:  the pine smell of our Christmas tree, the sweetness of sugar cookies baking, the melodic sound of Christmas music, and the sound of the ringing of bells.  There is the rhythm of the Salvation Army bell, the jingling of bells on a sleigh and the resonance of church bells at Midnight Mass.  We cherish these sights and sounds and hold them close to our hearts.