Breakfast 12 -- Tim Milford

        I was thinking the other day if Mary Bryant had not started this Biloxi thing years ago,  John Kuehner would not be my good friend.  Well I have known Tim Milford since the days you had to walk up to change the channel,  and we have now reconnected as old men.  Let the young kids have the beer,  knowing Tim he is like an old bottle of Bushmill's that just gets better and you really have no idea how good it is without the wisdom of letting it age.  If you are reading this blog every day (hi mom) it might seem like each breakfast is with a superstar,  but  I have been blessed with just knowing an incredible group of people.  And if you have been to Biloxi with us,  more than once,  you are definitely in that group.

        I do not know, Rita, Tim's wife as well as Tim,  but I would bet they are kind of a package deal.  And I think together they make each other better,  and they definitely make the world a kinder place.  I cannot tell you how many times over the years, I have seen or heard about what they are doing.  Their small corner of our world is full of love, and they constantly reach out to those on the margins.  Flashback:  Molly's senior year at Nerinx, senior retreat at Our Lady of the Snows,  I was the faculty person at Molly's table.  I do not think I ever taught Molly.  I knew her.  It is impossible to be in the same zip code as Molly and not know her.  Cell phones were just kind of becoming a thing,  as the guy in charge, none of the students were supposed to have a cell phone.  Molly had one,  she told me she wanted to keep track on the birth of her African niece?  Molly came back to the table and informed us they were unable to find a heart beat for the unborn child.  Most of the students had left to go back to their dorm rooms, we went late.  Just when we were about to end,  Mallory Indelicato who had been on the quiet side,  asked if our group could hold hands and say a prayer for the baby. I could see in her eyes that she had already started praying.

        Tim and Rita sent a food basket to an adopt a family years ago.  When they delivered that basket they saw that the woman from Burundi was pregnant.  Rita immediately broke a rule or two by finding out how she can help.  And Tim and Rita have been Burundi grandparents ever since.  Always being there with a kind word,  an extra appliance, or just that kinship that all of us treasure.  One of the neatest stories I know,  a Shrewsbury guy and his wife just being the EXTRAORDINARY for an ordinary family.   And being the constant kindness in someone else's life.  We truly belong to each other and when we see that and take the steps to do that we create the Kingdom that God has imagined.

          Tim told me during breakfast about the academic progress of a 3rd grader he knew,  Benite, he wants her to be the best student she can be.  The Milford family has always been in Benite's life since the beginning,  when she was born a day after a bunch of Seniors held hands and prayed.