touched. moved. inspired: for real this time.

Ive been wanting to write for a long time. Ive had a journal for as long as I can remember. My mom still
has my notebooks and journals from high school in a cardboard box in her house. Its the only way Ive
ever been able to fully articulate everything thats occurring upstairs, aka my brain. After writing I feel
clear, grounded, and ready to move forward and take action. I took a lot of time off from writing, like 17
years time off to be exact. Coincidentally the last 17 years have been the years of going to college,
building my career, getting married, having a family, buying a house, and so on and so forth. In these
past 17 years Ive written a ton- in my work notebooks. Ive written down goals, initiatives, feedback Ive
been given, feedback I need to give, to-do lists, and so on and so on. In the past two months Ive
rediscovered my love of writing and journaling and I can say that its changed how I am showing up for
my friends, my family, and my team at work. Im getting it out. My thought process is no longer
constipated, for lack of better words.
Ive felt touched, moved, and inspired at many moments in my life: the day my grandfather was
inducted into the Roman Catholic High school Hall of Fame, the day my Dad slid into first base at my
high school softball practice, the day my nephew graduated high school and headed across the country
to attend college in California, the day that Anna Wintour and Calvin Klein spoke at my college
graduation, the days directly following 911living in New York City, the day my oldest daughter got on her
first bus to Kindergarten, the list goes on.
Today was a big one for me. I saw the Pope, in person, in the city I grew up with and love. Note I said the
city I grew up with, I grew up 15 miles north of Philadelphia. I dont claim to be from Philly but it is
where I get my grit, my passion, my love for the Phils, and my weakness for soft pretzels. While I didnt
grow up in the city it still feels like home. And today I experienced it in a way that I never have before.
I was raised Catholic. I come from a Catholic conservative family, for the most part. I went to Catholic
school 1st grade through Senior year of high school, I went to church every Sunday- 10:30 mass was my
familys jam. It was tradition, it was community, and it was my foundation. It wasnt until today that it all
made sense to me why my parents insisted we go to church together as a family every week. My parents
made the decision to raise me as a Catholic; I had no choice in the matter. It wasnt until I went off to
college that I assumed my freedom to choose. I rebelled and stopped going to church every Sunday. I
didnt have a good reason why- I simply just didnt make the effort.
Slowly but surely since getting married, having a family of my own, and finding a consistent yoga and
meditation practice, Ive started to get curious about my faith- past and present. In the past three years
Ive attended numerous educational trainings centered around forgiveness, of myself and others. Ive
adopted a lifestyle of self-love and not feeling guilty about it, knowing that when I take good care of
myself, physically and mentally, I am able to take good care of those around me. Ive also noticed a
refreshing message from the homilies that I was hearing at church. It was a message of inclusivity and
non-judgment. This message may have always been there but I didnt hear it like Im hearing it now. I
used to judge others, because I judged myself. Im still working on me, and will be for the rest of my
time on this earth.

Weve known that the Pope was coming to Philly for a long time. Admittedly, my husband and I got
caught up in the mass hysteria around popageddan and thought about leaving town for the weekend
to escape the crowds and jammed traffic, even out in the burbs where we live. It was mid week last
week when my husband said to me, how do we not go see the Pope in our hometown? I needed to
hear this. Immediately I replied, yes, lets do it. How do we get tickets? to which he replied, uh, Jill,
there arent any. I said, WHAT? No way, the news keeps talking about how everyone got scared away,
theres hundreds of thousands of tickets left. Nope, was all he replied. Ok great, well that solves thatwe cant go. Problem solved. Catholic guilt washed away by unchangeable circumstances.
We spent all day Saturday doing things around the house that weve been wanting to do for so long, and
the Pope coverage was on in the living room the entire day. We both found ourselves stopping every so
often to watch what was happening in our city, the throngs of people gathered together, and this Pope
that couldnt stop captivating crowds, and kissing babies;). We put the girls to bed, snuggled up with a
bottle of wine, and watched the entire evening of Pope coverage, hosted nonetheless by one of many
celebrity crushes: Mark Wahlberg. We decided we should try to go down there the next day. We didnt
need tickets but we needed to be a part of the magic that was happening 15miles away from us.
This morning we got up, went downstairs with the girls to have breakfast and Eddie says to me, we
gotta make a decision, now. Its gonna be a pain in the ass, we have to drive, there might not be
anywhere close to park, and we will have two kids with us. My eyes lit up, sounds like an adventure, I
said. And that was that. Two hours to do all the Sunday stuff, departure was 11am. Eddie ran out to the
grocery store while I worked quickly to do Sunday chores and get little girls bathed and dressed. An hour
later he came home, with 2 papal mass tickets in tow. #youtheman
We made it down there, easily, and parked 1 mile away from the Parkway. We got a great spot, laid out
our blanket and met up with cousins. We saw the Pope from 20 feet away and my 6 year will never
forget it. We attended mass with 999,999 members of our Community. It was incredible. The Popes
message is centered around love, family, acceptance, and happiness. Regardless of what religion or
denomination one connects themselves to, these 4 values cannot be devalued. What the Pope spoke to
this weekend was what Ive been exposed to all along, its always been my personal faith, and it just
took me 35 years and a day with my family on the Parkway to connect some serious dots.
Love. Family. Acceptance. Happiness.
Touched, moved, inspired.
Thank you, Pope Francis, for blessing this country and my hometown with your lightness, authenticity,
wit, and love. Thank you for inspiring me to share myself with others through my writing and to put
myself out there. This is one day that I will never forget.
@livingYOU_