That Red Letter Day...

Back in college, on May 1st, 1987, I learned my friend Amy's brother David died in Europe. The shock of learning this news- I can't describe.

Amy and I had met in the mountains of Kentucky at Peace Place. We had worked at a day camp for kids who had so little. It was run by two nuns who also took in foster children and showered them with love. I felt so close to God there...

On that same day in May, a girlfriend of mine broke it off with her long-term boyfriend.

The tears came in floods as we prepared for finals. Crying on the train, crying in class, crying as our friends said hello. It was a very long, difficult day.

I went to David's funeral several days later and cried some more. Be Not Afraid- streaming tears. My heart broke for his sister and their parents. I could not conceive of such a tremendous loss.

I was such a little girl then.

In the 24 years since, there have been many "Red Letter" days. Days of heartbreak, days of loss, days of overwhelming sadness.

But now May 1st has become a different type of Red Letter Day.

On May 1, 2011, two extraordinary things happened. First, the beatification of Pope John Paul II. A huge event and special to me, as I remember standing on a curb in 1979 with my friends so we could catch a glimpse of the new Pope as he drove through the South Bronx. A saint in the making, a great man.

The second event- stunning- was the death of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida. He and those with him in the Pakistan compound were killed during a U.S. raid. He was then buried at sea, denying his faithful a shrine to visit.

It has been almost ten years that he has been hunted. And now God is his judge.

What a difference a day makes.