A few years ago, I was working on a story about a Catholic priest who travels with the Ringling Brothers circus. Cleveland was the closest the circus would come to the Twin Cities for quite some time, so I enlisted my friend Tim to join me, and early one morning we piled into my Toyota for the 14-hour drive across the Midwest. In our attempt to alleviate the tedium of a long drive, we started making fun of everything.

my name changed to protect the … guilty, i guess. i’ve told this story, and others from this two day trip numerous times. mary jo is the kind of friend who you swear was your sister. like you both grew up in the same house, but didn’t know it. so looking forward to seeing my friend/sister tonight.