You must be at least THIS tall to ride this autobiography

My travel cohort of 18 people includes my coworker Brad. (Fellow coworkers, if you're reading this and wondering who got that pseudonym, it's Brad!)

I didn't know him well but over the course of one large airport Bud Light (in a glass, which was strange: they handed it to me and I was like, "This comes in glasses? Is it really this color?") we connected on topics ranging from Israel to our Kairos speeches, with a few detours launched by me into "HAVE YOU HEARD THIS RADIO STATION YET??"

Brad had finished the pre-travel reading; I, predictably, had completed a third of it while watching the Cavs game but set it down because my toenail polish needed freshening. He cautioned me that the book, an autobiography of Saint Ignatius transcribed by his fellow Jesuit priests, ends abruptly. "It's like, he alludes to this other visionary experience he had, and mentions that he took thorough notes on it. Then the other priest says, 'Can I see them?' And he says 'No.' And THAT'S THE END! Of the book! Spoiler, sorry. Apparently the notes were later shredded and I'm like, this guy, what is he, the Ollie North of religious texts?"

Points for that reference, Brad. We'll circle back to the Iran Contra scandal if we run out of other conversation topics. 

For my part, I can't speak to the end of the book but I can tell you that the beginning is pretty entertaining. There is a lengthy preface/disclaimer by the scribe, essentially apologizing for what you are about to read. "Ok so this....we really badgered him to write this. But when he started talking, we had to decide whether to write it down exactly as he said it or, uh, modify it to be more...intelligible. 

...Also there was this one time I was supposed to meet him in the tower to take notes and I was late so he canceled that whole chapter."

This is the preface, people. As I said to Brad, if this were an improv game, would you play it? Two players: one has to tell a story and the other one has to tell the preface to the story. "Ok, my friend Jack is about to tell you the story of the time he went fishing with his uncle. Jack is...ok, two years ago he was concussed, ok?  Also he started to tell me this story last week but I had to take a phone call from this girl I'm sort of seeing and he got offended. But like, I had to take the call. Anyway English IS Jack's first language. I just want you to know that."