St. Colette (Jan. 13, 1381 to March 6, 1447)

  "I thought you were European," said Faye, a woman from China, when she was introduced to me today at a company meeting. "I was surprised when I heard you speak."
  I told Faye that she was right, in a way, since my grandfather was born in Italy and my ethnicity is half  Italian and half French.
  It's not the first time I've been mistaken for a non-American although I was born in Rhode Island. It could be the way I dress or put outfits together (scarves, leather boots and handbags, tailored black coats, and dressy shirts). Maybe Faye noticed a look or a spirit in me that she has seen in Europeans.
  My mom always said the best looking people were a mixture of nationalities. When she'd ask my grandfather who I looked like, he'd say I looked like myself.
  It's funny. As much as I try to break away from my heritage and where I came from, it seems the older I get, I am drawn to things that are like me.
  St. Colette was born Nicolette Boylet in Picardy, France on Jan. 13, 1381. She was orphaned as a teenager and left to the care of Benedictines. Yet, St. Colette was drawn to the Franciscan Order and had dreams that St. Francis of Assisi wanted her to restore the Rule of St. Clare.
  She founded the Colettine Poor Clares and established 17 monasteries. St. Colette and the sisters in her order lived a life of poverty and refused any form of income. She died on March 6, 1447. Canonized: 1807. St. Colette's feast day is March 6.

St. Colette (Jan. 13, 1381 to March 6, 1447)

I didn't plan on writing about this today, but I am doing so because I want to help other people. Please, if you haven't already: get a colonoscopy!
This afternoon while I was at work, I got a phone call from my doctor's office saying that the polyp that was removed last Friday during my colonoscopy was benign and precancerous. For a second, I was shocked. How could this be? I eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, I'm skinny yet fit, and I don't smoke.
Then, I calmly asked what it meant.
It was explained that hyperplastic polyps have virtually no chance of becoming cancerous, but an adenoma polyp, like the one I had, do, if not removed. I was told that I should have another colonoscopy in three years. Because my mother died from colorectal cancer at a young age, I asked if I could have the procedure done again in two years and was told that would be fine.
So, now I am making a lifestyle change. No more red meat. I don't care how good a hamburger tastes; it's not worth it.
Today reminded me of the day my mother said she wished she could spend just one day with her late father.
"I'd do anything, to see him again," she said.
I couldn't comprehend it at the time, but now I do. A parent's love is the best comfort.
St. Colette is the patron saint of loss of parents. She was born Nicolette Boylet in Picardy, France on Jan. 13, 1381. St. Colette was orphaned as a teenager and became a Franciscan tertiary. In 1406, she had a dream which encouraged her to create a reformed group of nuns of the Order of St. Clare of Assisi called the Colettine Poor Clares.
St. Colette died on March 6,1447 and her feast day is March 6.