My grandfather, my mother's father, died this past Saturday from acute respitory failure. He had emphysema, and we'd known for months that he could have died at any time. Even so, I wasn't expecting him to die last weekend. I'd been planning on going over to their house on Sunday as I normally do, to bring him and my grandmother Holy Communion. He died around 12:30 Saturday morning, and my mother called me as soon as they called her. I was glad that she called me. Somehow, sleep makes i...

My twin often complains that I never tell anyone that I have an identical twin sister. I don't do it intentionally, but I'm used to everyone knowing that I have a twin. We went to the same schools until college, and everyone knew who we were. I was used to complete strangers coming up to us at school and saying, "Hi, Begle." To me, being a twin isn't that unusual. It's just the way it's always been. Our older half brother, Bob, lived with his mom so we don't have any experience with other si...

My mom always writes a letter to send out with her Christmas cards that sums up the year, and I've been doing it for the last two years as well. This year, I thought that I'd also post it here so that the Internet-savvy users of my family can check it out here, too. For those of who you who don't know, Chrissy is my identical twin sister. Dear friends and family, It’s my second Christmas in my little house! This year Chrissy and I put up the Christmas lights without help from Dad. Dad ...