When my Mom died, I had a bit of a religious crisis because, well, I had no religion to fall back on. I grew up Catholic but we never went to church, only Sunday-school. I tried going to a church a friend introduced me to when I lived in Schaumburg, but it was a BIG non-denominational church that was really impersonal and way too crowded for me. When I moved to Freeport, I never even tried to find a church because I never really felt comfortable with Catholic beliefs. But I wanted to pray, so I looked online for an alternative to the rosary, and found malas--prayer or worry beads, which led me to Buddhism. I have been reading various books by Thich Nhat Hahn, Lama Surya Das, and others, and really wanted to find a temple or group near me. I found...nothing, unless I want to drive 1 1/2 hours to Madison (not really). On a whim I checked for Buddhist podcasts on ITunes, and whaddya know, there are tons! Now it's just narrowing down the choices.The point (yes, there is one), is if anyone else reading this is Buddhist and has any suggestions for me as far as podcasts/books to check out, drop me a line. I would love your input! My email is listed in my profile.