
When you look long and hard and sometimes short and easy, you can find similar people with your name throughout history and living in the world today.
My name is Mark named after the Gospel writer who relates the story of Jesus Christ in the Holy Bible.
He was an American magician and author. He was widely credited as the first major television magician, and in the process established the viability of illusion shows as a television format. (Wikipedia)
But this post isn’t about me, but about some special people close to me who share the names known as Kristin and Kathleen.
I went to see the doctor, I’d come down with the blues
She said that “I can’t cure you, but here’s something you could do
Take out a piece of paper and go sit down for a while
And draw a pretty picture of something that makes you smile”
Well, I know what makes me happy, I didn’t have to think for long
But when I tried to draw it, it always came out wrong
I had a box of 12, 48, and 64
But nowhere could I find that one shade I was looking for
I guess I realized, shoulda come as no surprise
Crayola doesn’t make a color for your eyes
There is no way that I could possibly describe you
Crayola doesn’t make a color to draw my love
I’ll take you home again, Kathleen
Across the ocean wild and wide To where your heart has ever been
Since you were first my bonnie bride.
The roses all have left your cheek.
I’ve watched them fade away and die Your voice is sad when e’er you speak
And tears bedim your loving eyes.
Oh! I will take you back, Kathleen
To where your heart will feel no pain
And when the fields are fresh and green
I’II take you to your home again!
Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated “the most contaminated site in America.” Full Body Burden is the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and — unknown to those who lived there — tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. It’s also a book about the destructive power of secrets — both family and government. Her father’s hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats — best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities.
Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book is both captivating and unnerving. -Amazon Description
The never-before-told story of the women Egyptologists who paved the way who paved the way for exploration in Egypt and laid the groundwork for Egyptology. -Amazon Description
Inspired by an astonishing true story from World War II, a young woman with a talent for forgery helps hundreds of Jewish children flee the Nazis in this “sweeping and magnificent” (Fiona Davis, bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue) historical novel from the #1 international bestselling author of The Winemaker’s Wife. -Amazon Description
Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food, while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.
In time, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master’s opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.
Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, Grissom’s debut novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.
-Amazon Description
My favorite: carved marble from Syria
enclosing a sliver of St. Baudine’s bone, its libation opening
like a tiny Holy Water font, invites the tender to pour
oil or water through the ark, the faithful to anoint
or bless themselves with liquid that has touched
the holy saint’s remains.
Kathleen is a 12 year old who lives in a big house with a nanny, a butler, maids, no mother and a father who is working most of the time. She dreams of a family with a mother, father and her, and tells everyone that she has such a family. Because of this story, she cannot invite any friends over as they will see that it is not true. Kathleen and her nanny, Mrs. Farrell do not get along, so her father hires a psychologist name Dr. Kent to be her new nanny for the summer. Her father has a new girlfriend, named Lorraine, who he is considering for his wife and mother to Kathleen. Kathleen does not like her and Lorraine is cold to Kathleen. Kathleen envisions Dr. Kent as the perfect mother for her and wife for her father. — Tony Fontana
Kristin’s Christmas Past (2013) Given the opportunity to visit her estranged family on Christmas Eve 1996, Kristin Cartwright hopes to change her past in order to improve her current life in 2013. (IMDB)
Kristin L Bass served as a United States Air Force officer. She made history by becoming the first and only female fighter pilot assigned at the 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard, Fort Smith, Arkansas. (Wikipedia)
When her father was serving as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kathleen made many friends in London and was the “debutante of 1938”. Working with the Red Cross, she began a romantic relationship with Lord Hartington, whom she married in May 1944. He was killed on active service in Belgium only four months later. Kathleen died in a plane crash in 1948, flying to the south of France while on vacation with her new partner, the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam.
Also known as Christina Mirabilis, was a Christian holy woman born in Brustem (near Sint-Truiden), Belgium. Christina is primarily known for her legendary resurrection during her funeral mass, and numerous other miracles attributed to her during her life. Thomas of Cantimpré wrote a hagiography of her based on accounts from people who knew her, which made her known outside of Sint-Truiden.
She was considered a saint in her own time, and for centuries following her death, as noted by her appearance in the Fasti Mariani Calendar of Saints of 1630, and Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints – Concise Edition, published in the 18th century. Though never formally canonized, she is commemorated in the current edition of the Roman Martyrology on 24 July, the day of her death. (Wikipedia)
Read more on Patheos – Seek. Understand.

