Smorgasbord #78
Easter Plans | Growing Pains | Gentle Cycle
Easter Plans
Happy Easter! He is risen! I hope you had a fantastic Triduum and are enjoying the Easter Octave. I have mixed emotions, as the news of Pope Francis’ death broke on Monday. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been cautious about reading too much news about the Holy Father, especially predictions about who might be his successor. Instead, I’ve continued to pray for the repose of his soul and the future of the Church. Still, I’ll be following the Pope’s funeral tomorrow.
You may remember that around Laetare Sunday, I started thinking about what to do during the Easter season. A few weeks ago, I met with my spiritual director and picked his brain for ideas on how to maintain the festive mood without falling into gluttony. He said that maybe everything is normal Monday through Saturday, and we do something special with the family on Sundays during Easter. I pitched the idea of Sunday Sundaes to Mrs. Cantú and the kids, and they love the idea of making their own ice cream treat. We even talked about inviting people over to partake in the celebrations.
My spiritual director also challenged me to pick up a book that I consider intellectually challenging for spiritual reading. I chose to read (or rather listen to) “The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise” by Robert Cardinal Sarah.
"Silence is more important than any other human work, for it expresses God. The true revolution comes from silence; it leads us toward God and others so as to place ourselves humbly and generously at their service."
When I tried to read this book a few years ago, I found it heavy and difficult to digest. I still think this will be a challenging book; however, in the time that has passed since I first tried to read it, I’ve grown in my appreciation for silence, cultivating solitude, and contemplation. Like I have joked before, I’m what you may call a wannabe monk.
Growing Pains
My dad has had back issues ever since I was a kid. I believe he has a couple of herniated discs. I think he got used to living with pain and has a lifestyle that helps him manage; he quit smoking, watches what he eats, and goes on walks. However, this past week, he ended up in the ER because the pain was unbearable. Turns out one of his herniated discs got worse. He’s on pain meds, going to physical therapy and chiropractors to get some momentary relief while he’s seen by a specialist at the end of next month.
I’ve struggled with being obese since I was a teenager. I got gastric sleeve surgery in 2010, which gave me a new lease on life. It was a “desperate times call for desperate measures” situation. When I met Mrs. Cantú, I was at peak health and weighed around 220 pounds. Over the last decade, my weight has fluctuated significantly, reaching as high as 320. However, if you have followed Heavyweight, you know I’ve been working on getting healthier for the last nine months.
Mrs. Cantú and I were talking about how having children has affected the way we take care of ourselves. I would deprioritize exercise and diet while we had newborns, which felt like being in survival mode, just keeping my head above water. But I would get back on track once we reached a new normal—the historical weight graph in my scale app lines up with these events. Mrs. Cantú gave me props for getting back on the wagon. Her words of praise are the fuel I need to keep on going.
Whenever I’m walking toward the garage to get a workout in, I say, “Time to put the hurt on.” I want to be strong and healthy so that future Walther can have an easier time getting around. I’m also a realist and recognize that CrossFit-style workouts were okay for thirty-year-old Walther, but forty-year-old Walther needs something slightly less intense. He also needs fifteen minutes at the beginning and end of a workout to warm up and stretch; otherwise, there’ll be hell to pay.
I don’t know what the future will bring, but I want to be as prepared as possible. If I can do something today to make things easier in the future, I want to do it. The price tag for that future benefit is a sacrifice today. It sucks sometimes. But I believe there can be a balance between putting the hurt on and enjoying the here and now. The potential that can be unlocked by being a healthier husband and father is something I keep reminding myself of.
I recognize others may have a worse hand dealt to them, so I am grateful for having four limbs, a brain that works, no broken bones, and no chronic illness. I’m also thankful I still have both of my parents with me, even though they live in a different country. I know they are doing their best to be healthy, but I recognize they won’t last forever, none of us will. Memento mori and all that.
God willing, my folks will be in town for my oldest son’s first communion and confirmation in a couple of weeks, which I’m looking forward to. In the meantime, I’ll keep at it and work on delaying gratification, hoping for a better future. And maybe have dessert every once in a while.
Gentle Cycle
Mrs. Cantú and I purchased a new washing machine since our previous one broke. We bought a commercial-grade one that is about 2.5 times the price of the average washing machine, complete with new hoses, a 7-year warranty, and all that. We got it delivered and installed on Monday morning. We were excited to try it out; we had mountains of laundry to do. I loaded the washing machine for the first time, and a few minutes later, our laundry room was flooded. Disaster.
The installer washed their hands, saying that the picture of the installation looked fine. They suggested we call a plumber, like I hadn’t thought about that. Mrs. Cantú is a saint and drove over to the laundromat, for the second time this month, filled six washing machines with our laundry, and came back home to start drying, folding, and putting away everything. I was frustrated all day long. We got the commercial-grade washing machine. This should’ve been the end of our problems, but it wasn’t.
The plumber came on Tuesday, performed various tests, broke the cable on the electric drain cleaner, left to get a spare from Home Depot, returned, tried to clear it again, and failed. He informed me that only certain plumbers in his company have the necessary equipment to insert a camera down the drain and see what’s stuck there.
A second plumber came on Wednesday with the high-end drain camera and found something. Unfortunately for us, he had to cut the drywall to access the P-trap, cut the P-trap, and remove the foreign object. A third plumber would need to perform this job.
The third and final plumber came over a few hours later on Wednesday. He cut a hole in the wall, removed the P-trap, cut it in half, and then removed the object that was the culprit. It was a freaking water heater pipe nipple, about three inches long. God only knows how long that thing had been there. All of a sudden, this new washing machine got twice as expensive when you add the plumber’s bill.
Mrs. Cantú and I were debriefing and asked why we had been at odds during these events. I invited her to pray morning prayer together, which we rarely do, on the morning of the flood. This event made me realize that we would need grace. I was still upset by the end of the day, as it takes me a while to digest events like this. But things got back to normal, we powered through, and we trust God will provide for these unexpected expenses.
Our oldest son was at the dinner table when we were talking about it, and he had some questions about how the devil can tempt us to lose our patience or be uncharitable toward others. I explained to him that the enemy is like a mosquito that flies very close to your head and you can’t quite smash it. It keeps coming back in circles, annoying you, and may even bite you, but you can eventually squash it down with some divine assistance.
The joys of homeownership, am I right? Nothing but opportunities to be grateful for having a roof over our heads, access to someone else’s washing machine when needed, and living in a major city where plumbers can get to you within 24 hours. And hopefully you won’t have to read about broken washing machines in the next seven years, at least.
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Sobremesa
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor/topping combination?
What’s a positive or negative aspect of getting old?
Do you fold and put your clothes away as soon as possible, like a psychopath?
Black cherry with dark chocolate chunks.
Brina and I can’t seem to get ahead of laundry. Our flawed system is as follows. Clean laundry gets piled in the corner of our room. Perhaps 1.5 square yards before we get to it lol. (we have 4 kids and two of them are the same size(twice the clothes), so we pretty much have 5). Then we have “laundry party’s” where we sort and fold everything while listening to standup comedy. I’m am only trusted with socks/towels/bedding/my clothes she handles the kids and hers.
1. Coffee with chocolate sauce.
2. Wisdom.
3. You mean you don’t?