Driving Gary Beuke

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled program.

For today, I have to forget the exposition because yesterday is worth talking about.

Yesterday, I awoke at the butt crack of dawn, skipped a cross country long run, and went to a Catholic Men's Conference with my new friend, Gary Beuke. Gary has been a member of my church for years, and I seem to run into him at every public event I attend. He is instantly recognizable, not because of his disability, but because of his cheerful personality and bright smile. A couple of weeks ago, my brother and I helped him move out of his apartment and into a retirement community. He then asked me to join him at this conference.


I felt like I was in the film Driving Miss Daisy, but Gary actually drove the car. The conference was held at the JFK Student Center at St. Francis University. The program had some entertaining speakers who shared good messages, and I met some interesting people even though I started to get antsy toward the end of the day.

After the conference, I helped Gary walk as we visited some old friends at the University cemetery and took a stroll through the awesome Sunken Gardens in Loretto, PA. We then trespassed on Franciscan property; however, we ran into Richard and Nate, who I know from an awesome summer camp. They are in the process of becoming Franciscan brothers. They had Saturday night off and were getting ready to go see The A-Team (go figure). It was nice to talk to them. We discussed filmmaking, Catholic production companies, and of course, the movie Bella.

For whatever reason, it seems as if all Catholics must love Bella (it has a "pro-life" message). I find the film to be pretty. I also think the star Tammy Blanchard is beautiful and gives a great performance. Still, I ultimately find the movie to be too depressing for my taste.

If you want a much better pregnancy movie, check out Juno. Bleeker and I could be best friends.

All in all, the day was really worthwhile. Gary is one of those rare people who can teach you a heck of a lot about life if you simply listen. I am blessed to know quite a few of these people. He wants me to join him for lunch some summer day.

I look forward to it.