I didn’t bring my laptop on the plane to Ohio because my battery is so week that it barely keeps my computer alive ten minutes. Yet for months I’ve lugged it around the country, believing I’d occupy spare minutes in the airport terminal, or maybe an hour at the hotel before I fall asleep. But that never happened, so I decided to just leave the computer at home.

I didn’t get bumped up to First Class and that always sucks. I know I’m supposed to be grateful that I am not being hauled to and from Ohio in a camel caravan, but it doesn’t change the fact that I had to spend four hours sitting next a massive man. I probably shouldn’t have forced him to lower the armrest, but I couldn’t stand the fact of him scooting ever closer to me. Even with the plastic and metal barrier, his copious figure spilled into my space. To pass the time, I imagined I was an Eskimo child curled up next to him the gentle Polar Bear for warmth through the cold night. I imagined my pack of Siberian Husky sled dogs curled up at my feet.

I traveled to Ohio to speak at the University of Dayton. I was scheduled to speak there last year, but the plane tickets were wrong and we had to reschedule.; Speaking at a college campus on a Saturday night is always gamble because you never know how many people will show up. You can usually get twice as many students at a lecture on a weeknight as you could on the weekend.

But all of that uncertainty melted away when my two new friends picked me up at the airport. Our conversation on the car ride was amusing and lively. Their enthusiasm for the coming night was contagious. Once I was on campus, I dropped off my bag at one of the campus houses. The university; owns hundreds of century-old houses that line the campus streets. Students live there in the houses like you would a dormitory. The homes are immaculate from the outside, but once inside, you see how different it was 100 years ago. The rooms are small and squarish… nothing grand at all. But it’s a perfect for college friends. Every pack of friends has their own front porch. It’s pretty fun.

A few students started the group “Catholic Life” a couple years ago. The University of Dayton is a Catholic school, but with a student population of 8000, you tend to lose your Catholic identity. So this group is trying to recapture that Catholic spirit, and they seem to be doing it. Their numbers are high, and the people who come to their weekly meetings are delightfully happy. Its rare that you can look across a room of college students and see so many smiling faces. Most of the time you get a herd of pessimistic young adults strapped with ego.

After the event I went to their weekly “dry party” where everybody parties but nobody drinks. With the campus houses as they are, it’s okay to drink on campus as long as you are old enough and you do it in your house. When you line up dozens of beer-soaked households, campus becomes an endless landscape of rap music and staggering students with brown bottles. The dry party was just as rowdy, but there wasn’t as much vomit.

This trip was rewarding for me because I got to meet several college students who were involved in Life Teen when they were in high school. This is always an affirming experience, because I never know if their experience in Life Teen is way for them to pass time in high school, or if it really does connect with their soul.

My flight back to Phoenix passed through Atlanta then finally to Phoenix. It was six-and-a-half hours of airports, tight seats, and unsalted peanuts. I couldn’t find my car in the parking deck, but I enjoyed the thirty minutes of exercise. I’ve come to savor the first mile of the drive out of the airport. It’s an experience that I relish like no other.; I look in the rearview mirror and watch the airport disappear in the distance. Ahead is nothing but wide open land with plenty of leg room. I make the sign of the cross as a humble prayer of gratitude. I turn up the radio, roll down the windows, and drive fast.

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Last night Candyce and I went to Mass at the Catholic Center at Arizona State. I like my home parish, but I’ve been going there for so many consecutive Sundays, it was nice to get a change of scenery. Plus, it was kind of nostalgic watching all the college students fumble in late wearing their weekend slacker clothes.

After Mass we walked down Mill to the Bamboo Club for dinner. It was so nice to spend time with Candyce because her school work has kept her ridiculously busy. I actually saw her more this summer while she was in San Diego than in the past two months with her only ten miles away.

Over dinner Candyce and I talked about what to do with interests and passions that you don’t get to do because of your job or your major in college. I love ministry and web design so that’s why I do it. But I also love graphic design and landscape design. I’d love to design and build skyscrapers or charming neighborhoods.; I’d love to create a thriving coffee shop out of a misunderstood street corner. Candyce thinks I should get my Masters in Architecture and just be done with it. Who knows?