I've mentioned to you all before (and here) the poetry of Scott Lentine, a young man in Massachusetts who contacted me by email several years ago, and has shared his poetry and other work with me in the past few years. As Scott's blog says, he's someone living with high-functioning autism who has a degree in religious studies from Merrimack College.
Scott emailed me this week to share with me an account he recently posted at his blog site of his 27th birthday celebrations. I want to share a link to Scott's birthday account today both to wish Scott a belated very happy birthday, and also to share his upbeat, joyful posting with readers of Bilgrimage.
Reading Scott's posting about his multiple birthday celebrations brought light to my heart and tears to my eyes. We live in a world too full of woe, and it entombs one's soul to focus too much on the woe — even when part of our calling as human beings seeking spiritual depth is to look with clear eyes at what the world actually is.
I'm very grateful to Scott for sharing his birthday posting with me, and I want now to share it with all of you. Scott Lentine is a fine young man, and as I told him when I emailed to thank him for letting me know about his blog entry, I'm so glad to see him being so richly fêted by family and friends. (I also told him that his vivid accounts of the meals to which he was treated for his birthday makes my mouth water.)
The photo is from my own file of birthday celebration pictures: my brother Simpson and I enjoying a birthday cake in what I believe is August 1954, since there's one candle on the cake and this is probably a cake made for our brother Philip's first birthday celebration. I hope Philip was able to have some of the cake, too!