On Saturday night, Father Dennis Callahan of Christ King Parish passed away after a seven month struggle with ALS, a disease that causes motor neurons, and thus muscle movement, to slowly deteriorate. I was lucky enough to go visit him a couple of weeks ago and learn a lot more about him than I knew before.

Even though he was afflicted with such a sad disease, Father Dennis was surprisingly cheerful. I had expected to have to carry on conversation and was worried about running out of things to say, but he actually wouldn’t stop talking. It was obviously incredibly difficult for him to talk and laugh, but he did so for a couple of hours.

The most amazing thing about him, though, was his attitude toward his disease. Even though he needed assistance in almost everything that he did, he believed that the disease was a blessing. He said that as a priest he had been meeting with people all of his life, but now he had the chance to listen much more deeply to his visitors’ stories as well as to tell his own. Without the disease he would not have met and talked to the many people who came to visit him.

Obviously, Tosa has lost a great man, but at least many of us got to know him on a greater level first. Father Dennis’ disease was definitely not just a blessing for him, because if it weren’t for the disease, I wouldn’t have gone to visit him.

I thought I was going to help him get through a difficult time, but he ended up showing me that something so difficult could be the complete opposite depending on the way you look at it. He told me that he believed that life should be all about love and be “light and easy.” Anyone could see that he was living his own words, regardless of such a hard situation. It’s amazing that Father Dennis could have this positive mentality towards something so painful; it makes me wonder how much better my own life would be if I could approach my much smaller problems with the same attitude.  

Thanks for looking at my blog! I hope this first entry is interesting enough that you’ll want to click on my face again. If you didn’t catch the name at the top of the screen, I’m Maddie McLennon. I’m seventeen years old and I’m a junior at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School (all girls – save me!).

I thought I’d write my first blog about something we all (I’m assuming) have in common – an affinity for Tosa.

One thing I love about this town is the closeness between neighbors. And I don’t just mean that in the cliché psychological sense. The computer on which I’m typing is about eight feet from my next door neighbor’s house, and I love that. My yard may be smaller than most of those in Brookfield, but this just makes it easier to get from my house to a friend’s.

Limited by my inability to cross the street without a grown-up, I spent the earliest formative years of my life stuck on my block. This was never a problem for me, though. My first crush, sleepover, and pen pal were all no more than 100 yards away. My summer nights were filled with games - ghost in the graveyard, kick the can, capture the flag, etc. - that were perfect for two adjoining backyards.

Because I go to a private school, I’ve got a lot of friends in a lot of different places, and, naturally, many of them are jealous of the Tosans. My friends from Cedarburg and Mequon will gladly carpool with anyone in Ozaukee County; my Tosa friends and I are so close, more than a few blocks away usually means “out of the way.”

I’m hoping I can provide a unique perspective on Tosa since I’m still in high school. For example, I can’t legally go to Mayfair after 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. And even though now I can cross the street, my mom won’t let me drive on the highway so I’m stuck in Tosa for a while.

But that’s okay with me. Happy New Year, Tosa!