a.d. elliott - Take the Back Roads

  Dear Henry, This is the story of how I learned to live again. How I Lost My Shoes In The First Place In March 1998, a heavily intoxicated man committed an armed robbery of a local convenience store. During the police chase to capture him, I was struck (as a pedestrian) by the assailant’s (stolen) car while crossing the street. He was estimated to be traveling between 35 and 40 miles per hour . My top seven left ribs broke and were pushed over my spine. My left shoulder, elbow, and hip were severely damaged, and my left tibia and fibula (the lower bones in my leg) shattered and sent the bone protruding out the front of my leg. My leg also developed a complication called compartment syndrome, where fluid builds up between the muscles and the fascial sheath that covers them, cutting off circulation to the affected area. I also had severe head trauma.  It was a miracle that I survived. The initial prognosis was bleak; I was not expected to live through the night, and in fact, surgery f

Dear Henry, While I was in Eureka Springs, Arkansas , I stopped by the historical St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church for a little bit of a pilgrimage.  Let me tell you all about it. The story of the Church of St. Elizabeth began in 1880 when missionary priest Father Michael Smythe organized the construction of a small wooden church a couple of blocks away from the current site. The Sacred Heart church was completed in 1882, and the Diocese of Little Rock began sending priests to Eureka Springs for mass monthly. The Sacred Heart rectory was built in 1904.   In addition to the Sacred Heart Church, the St. Louis-based Sisters of Mercy opened a small hospital and school next to the Sacred Heart church in 1902 called the Hotel Dieu Hospital. The current building got its start in 1904, as Richard Kerens, railroad tycoon and one of the builders of the Crescent Hotel, built a memorial rotunda, inspired by the Hagia Sophia, for his mother, Elizabeth, who had died in 1892. In 1908, after c