{"id":109392,"date":"2025-01-25T11:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T19:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=109392"},"modified":"2026-07-14T12:20:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:20:35","slug":"still-roaring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/still-roaring\/","title":{"rendered":"Still Roaring!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>oday is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the seventeenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before<\/a>, a “moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed”. It\u2019s important to mark those changes in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine actually changed the trajectory of my life not just once but three times: when we married, when\u00a0we came into the Church<\/a>, and when she introduced me to the splendors of the\u00a0Camino de Santiago<\/a>.<\/span> Had any of those not happened, the arc of my life would have been very different indeed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Francine and I have a funny tradition. When I proposed to her, I distracted her for a moment by the gift of a wooden Welsh love spoon. While she was oohing over it, I fell to one knee and took out the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our wedding day in 2008, I gave her another. Since then, I’ve done the same for each anniversary. The wall is really starting to fill up!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The Wall of Spoons this morning. You can probably guess where the new one will go.<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

They are small tokens of a great love. In the Welsh tradition, the various carvings have different meanings<\/a>. In addition, there are the meanings that we ourselves give them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That spoon in the photo with the two spoon-y bits is the one I gave her when I proposed – two becoming one. The funny crooked one to its right was our wedding spoon. We’re both a little twisty!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Roaring!\"<\/a>
Roaring Twenties Wedding photo at Saint Patrick Church in Tacoma, Friday, Jan. 25, 2008. (Photo\/John Froschauer)<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

These spoons are just one example of physical commemorations given on a chronological commemoration. So that in times both difficult and beautiful, we can look up at the wall and remember what it’s all about. And when you think about it, this is also why we give gifts at Christmas. It’s why children still put their shoes (or socks!) out for Saint Nicholas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, this is why we celebrate feasts of the Lord and of the saints at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s the reason we have icons and statues as well. To remember. To be reminded, for instance, that on this day nearly two thousand years ago, the Pharisee enforcer Saul was driven to the ground by the voice of the Lord, to arise (in time) as the Apostle Saint Paul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And having been so reminded, to celebrate that person or that event because these people are our family – the Communion of Saints – and these events are part of our family history and tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"The<\/a>
The Conversion of Saint Paul by Blessed Fra Angelico, c. 1430<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is both the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the seventeenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a “moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed”. It\u2019s important to mark those changes in our lives. Francine actually changed the trajectory of my life not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,8,10,45,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annual","category-francine-my-love","category-fun","category-pistachio-house","category-saint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-sso","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":108287,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/roaring-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":109392,"position":0},"title":"Roaring!","author":"Thom","date":"25 January 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the sixteenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a \"moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed\". It\u2019s important to mark those changes in our lives. Francine actually changed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107568,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/fifteen-roaring-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":109392,"position":1},"title":"Fifteen Roaring Years","author":"Thom","date":"25 January 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the fifteenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a \"moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed\". It\u2019s important to mark those changes in our lives. I realized a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Roaring.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109655,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/happy-birthday-francine\/","url_meta":{"origin":109392,"position":2},"title":"Happy Birthday, Francine","author":"Thom","date":"21 July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine's 63rd birthday. Last year, when she turned 62, having been born in 1962, she proclaimed that it was going to be her year. She called it her \"golden year\". Maybe it was. This is the year that she was swept up in the arms of Jesus. I have no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/36475810_10155614137330382_2866939563987697664_n.jpg?fit=1080%2C1076&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105292,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/gratitude-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":109392,"position":3},"title":"Gratitude","author":"Thom","date":"22 March 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"L\u00e6tare Sunday in 2012, Francine and I first attended Holy Rosary church for Mass. I described the event at the time like this: Rev. Jacob Maurer, First Mass, June 13, 2009 Something simply extraordinary happened today. This afternoon, I attended the Sacred Liturgy and participated in the Mass for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Fr-Maurer-at-St-Mark-Laetare-2020.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Fr-Maurer-at-St-Mark-Laetare-2020.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Fr-Maurer-at-St-Mark-Laetare-2020.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Fr-Maurer-at-St-Mark-Laetare-2020.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Fr-Maurer-at-St-Mark-Laetare-2020.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106769,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/another-year-another-spoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":109392,"position":4},"title":"Another Year, Another Spoon!","author":"Thom","date":"25 January 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the fourteenth anniversary of the day I wed my beautiful bride. It is, as I have said before, a \"moment when everything changed, celebrated on a day when everything changed\". It\u2019s important to mark those changes in our lives. Francine and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-01-25-07.50.36.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-01-25-07.50.36.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-01-25-07.50.36.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2022-01-25-07.50.36.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":110543,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/happy-birthday-francine-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":109392,"position":5},"title":"Happy Birthday, Francine","author":"Thom","date":"21 July 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine's second birthday since she passed to the Lord. No, I don't understand it either. It was our custom to celebrate her birthday with a dinner at some new place we hadn't tried before. In 2023, we had her birthday dinner at a local tapas place called Amor. Her photo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Francine my love"","block_context":{"text":"Francine my love","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/francine-my-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-21-08.59.15-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-21-08.59.15-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-21-08.59.15-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-21-08.59.15-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-07-21-08.59.15-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109398,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109392\/revisions\/109398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}