7/24/93
I sat on the dock at the end of 8th Street. It was a Friday night around 8 p.m. I came out to see the sun go down over the inland and waters and the islands in between. It had been a day of perfect weather. Clear, not too hot and a slight breeze. It was the end of a perfect day and it had a perfect sunset. The vista over the grasslands and the far tree line gave one the idea of looking off the edge of the world. As the sun slipped down, seemingly inch by inch, you could almost swear you watched the world move. The hues and tints of colors in the puffs of white, orange and pink, slowly became gray and then blending, lost all color. You wished the normal wish, you dreamed the normal dream, yet the wonder and majesty of it all made you feel so inconsequen¬tial that you understood a mite more why an artist would strive to save that moment!
We, June and I and grandson Sean, had talked about a sunset the night before and recalled a recent tv commercial in which a father and daughter, of say 4 or 5 years, sat and watched the sun go down. The father speaks as the sun moves behind the horizon “Going, Going, Going, Gone!” The little lady gleefully claps and says “Do it again, Daddy!” Ah! yes, do it again Daddy, or Mommy, or Granddaddy. Make the world a silent, beautiful paradise where only good things bloom.
Good things bloom where you least expect and are most unlikely to look.
July brought some “bloomin” good things. Grandpop added a trophy to his collection from the Avalon 5 mile, a second place. I now have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the last three years. But this one was extra special because I had David waiting at the finish line. If he wasn’t there I would’ve stopped. The humidity and heat were very high -I managed to go at a nine minute pace and watched others stopping in the last mile. David enjoyed carrying home the trophy and he sure made Grandpop proud. That all happened on July 10th,which I later learned was one month to the day that Marge, Dan and Anne were leaving Tralee and heading for Kinsale in Ireland. As Dad was heard to say on occasion, “The sun never sets on the McSorleys”. Probably it could be said of the Allens, Walshes, Lukens and the present day McSorleys as well.
The next day I went for a bike ride around the island. It was Sunday and still fairly warm, so I made my usual pit stop in Fred’s Tavern in Stone Harbor. There I met our old Avalon postman and West Catholic alum, John Gray. He gave me some very sad news. They had fished Ed Blake, Jr. (called Ned) from the inland waterways early that morning. John knew Ned from his visit to the local pub in Avalon, the Princeton. I had been talking to Ned on July 2nd at the Avalon Country Club after a game of golf with a neighbor and former New Jersey Judge, Marty Paghlughi. Ned had done some business for clients of mine and we talked of his father, who was recovering from a tough bout with pneumonia.
The news was depressing. I biked home with hurt in my heart for his mom and dad, Ed and Marion. He was 38 years of age, unmarried, and of all of the children of Ed and Marion was the one most like his dad, a classmate, partner and now P.J. (President Judge) of the Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. I wrote Ed and Marion a note since I had already agreed to visit Bill and his gang on Wednesday evening in Harrisburg. It was not lost on me that Ned was Ed’s oldest son as Bill is mine, that Ned was 38 and Bill 36.
Bill had asked me months ago to come and run a mile down Front Street in Harrisburg and to watch him hopefully break five minutes. So I went and watched and ran and thought how short life is! The run was short too. A sprint. Bill did 5:01 on a very high, sticky night. I thought it was great. I ran later and before the run with Karen and Matthew. It was a short visit but memorable.
The next day, July 15th, my Dad’s birthday, we had a visit with Win, Beth, Winnie and Denise. We had a pool party or close to it. Denise is Win’s granddaughter who suffered severe injuries several years ago in an automobile accident. She still has a crooked arm and limp and speech impediments, but is a vivacious, charming Irish lass. She is a Bugey. Mary Theresa is her mom. She is a favorite of June’s who, over the years, has sent her cards and gifts of encouragement and love. Denise, in return, has never missed the chance to visit or thank her. On this visit she brought a box of fudge, an apple crumb cake and fudge chocolate cake and a coffee cup with a poem or verse to June which sings of her name “June-meaning light hearted”.
All those who know you cannot help but feel
That you have a buoyant and youthful appeal
You’re so filled with energy
that what you do best
Are activities that demand vigor and zest.
You’ll always be young, for your future must hold
A place for a heart that will never grow old!
I could not have said it better myself – a special thanks to a thoughtful, loving gift.
During the beginning of the week our grandchildren, Matthew and Kelly Golden and their mom and dad, Mike & Cindy, were with us. Is it any wonder the versifier could say of June “You’ll always be young!” She keeps young by having the young around her. Yet, like most grandmothers, is also happy when they go home. Mike and Cindy had to leave on Wednesday, but we’ll be together in Myrtle Beach the last week in August.
The week ended with another grandmother and grandfather festival -the christening of Andrew Edward Golden (grandchild number 14) who was born on April 23, 1993 and growing by leaps and bounds. The christening was in Doylestown at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. A Basilica in the suburbs. Ten babies were baptized at one sitting. It was done in a most expeditious manner.
The memories will be retained mostly in still pictures and in the minds of those who attended, but not in the video production placed in the hands of Michael Golden. His first series of pictures were of the wood paneling on the pews, then the ceiling and some of the strangers in the seats around us. He finally seemed to have it under control as the party moved to the font at the front of the Church. There goes godmother, Cindy, taking Andrew up to Father, now the parents and godfather come into view next to the font. The child is placed over the font, people lean forward to view as Father reaches into the font for water saying the words -Blank! Darkness descends on the scene. He did get some decent shots of the godfather going up to light the candle, but as we said, the memories will be in the hearts and mind and stills -the video lacks a bit.