Author: Matt Keough

Happy Birthday from Rena

Joyce,

Growing up you were my sister Anita’s friend. Now I am honored to really call you mine! I really look up to you even though you are younger to me. I admire how you are as a Mom to your beautiful boys…. You have more patience than anyone I know. I loved our time in baseball when we were on the same team and getting to know your “Beautiful” husband Matt. My other favorite memories are being in the PTA with you and sharing a table at Families in Faith . That always made the event even more memorable.

I want to welcome you to the 40’s club. I think they are better than the 30’s! I wish you a wonderful birthday and much happiness and wonderful health in the years ahead!

Love, Rena

Duck, Duck, Gull

Lake Erie still has a great deal of ice covering its surface. However, it also has some spots of open water. Today I saw a great number and variety of ducks and gulls. I even saw a heron.

This little red-breasted merganser swam by and gave me an opportunity to admire his red eye and beautiful feathers.
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Other Matt Keoughs

We all think we are unique, don’t we? We are. Each of us has different experiences and perspectives. Even identical twins are not really identical. The younger goes through life looking at the older and the older goes through life looking at the younger.

It is kind of like the parallax effect.  I only have two eyes, but if I hold my index finger at arm’s length and close my left eye my perception of the world shifts from when I close my right eye.

It should be no surprise, then, that the accident of having the same first and last name is an interesting and a tenuous bond, but really is not much more. Two times in the recent weeks I’ve had people mention that they know a different Matt Keough in the Cleveland area.

My curiosity is piqued at this type of revelation. I’m interested in my family’s history. My father’s family was not particularly close and the fact that my grandfather died when my father was an infant didn’t help any Keough bonding. Plus, Keoughs always seem to find some reason to feud in every generation. I don’t look at this as being difficult, I look at it as having integrity and “sticking to your guns.” As Hank Jr. sang, it’s a family tradition.

So, this is an open offer. If you stumble upon this blog post because you were Googling “Matt Keough” or even “Keough” please feel free to comment and connect. Even if we can’t determine a direct connection in familial relationship we can be friends because there is something we share!

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UPDATE!

Totally not staged. Don’t you think the smirk of the ball player and your humble blog host are a bit similar? I promise you, this was not a conscious pose on my part.

lotsomatts

 

 

 

 

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Update to the update. If you look at my public Facebook profile it has a handy list of  Other Matt Keoughs!

If I had a million dollars…

A good friend of mine once called the state-sponsored lottery “the most successful way to tax stupidity” and I am afraid he is correct. I know my odds of winning the lottery are less than <insert absurd example of being struck by lightning or finding a needle in a haystack> but I do from time to time buy a ticket. Am I stupid? Maybe. One of the great paradoxes of life is that if you really are stupid you will never know it.

The best part of buying a lottery ticket is fantasizing about what you would do with the windfall. Would you like to know my latest scheme?

I want to build a church.

Specifically, I want to build a chapel in the Romanesque style which would be be made available to all the firefighters, police, or soldiers (Reservists mostly) and any other Catholic individuals who may find it  difficult to attend Mass at a regularly scheduled time at their usual parish.

My scheme would, of course, need the blessings of the local bishop. However I’d like to create a situation wherein the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass would be available by appointment whenever two or three would gather in His name. One way this might be practically implemented  would be to have some attachment to a monastery.  So I guess I’m also proposing the foundation of a monastery. Remember, I’m also planning on winning the lottery, so the sky is the limit.

Too ambitious? Perhaps. I just think that this would be a wonderful service to those who serve. Which also makes me think I should not wait to win the lottery. Who would like to help me arrange a system that would help these people never miss Mass?