The month of November was a blur. It began with preparations by both of us for weekend retreats. We were both serving on teams. My retreat was from the 8th of November to the 11th,and June’s from 15th to the 18th. June was a table leader and speaker. I worked with the Head server as his assistant. Our job, aside from actually serving and seeing that those volunteers who are there to help do the job, was to entertain the candidates and the team members before each meal. The head server was a veteran of Public Radio for many years and a charismatic guy, Jim Brissey. He now is an ordained minister with a church and congregation in Deland, Florida. We put on skits. He thought them up. I was his end man, and in one case his end “woman”, since I wore a gaudy party dress, a wig, and cat’s mask, with big boots. Jim was wearing a sombrero at least five feet across, a vest of some wool over his skin, wild shorts, and rubber like shoes of some animal. My name was “Dalores”, and he was “Wan-mo-time” and we spoke in bad spanish-americanese . It got a lot of laughs. That particular act went over so well that the “cha’s”, or drones, who serve all the candidates over the weekend, when they had their skit on Saturday night, decided to include, “Wan-mo-time” and his girl friend, “Dalores”. Each skit ended with Jim reading a verse or two from scripture, always in the accent of the skit! It was fun but a bit exhausting. I came away exhilarated with a feeling of really contributing to the growing faith and love of those who attended but then I came down with a cold. The retreat is held at a Rotary Camp east of Tampa. It is used in the summer for handicapped children. The sleeping is in dormitories with steel bunk beds. There are two sinks, commodes and showers while you may have as many as ten to twelve in a cabin. So it is a different life style, to say the least, for the time spent there.
The second weekend finished on Sunday the 18th and we skipped the celebration dinner following the closing. We were to leave the next day to fly north for the Thanksgiving celebration with our gangs. We were picked up at 11:20 a.m. for our flight at 2 p.m. We were advised to be there two hours prior the scheduled time to leave. Well, we were there before twelve and by five minutes after we were finished with our checking in! So we had a little lunch and then boarded our plane. We arrived in Philly at the peak traffic time. We almost walked right passed Walt who had come to pick us up. He drove us home in his truck and the traffic made it an hour ride. But we were there and thus began another week of hustle and bustle. Tuesday we shopped, Wednesday June cooked, I supervised (yea, right!), and then Thursday the big day we had all of June’s gang. It was buffet style with filet or turkey being the main entrees.
June’s son Joe Golden brought some pictures of the World Trade Center disaster area. He had been working there off and on from I believe September 13th. He told a great story in the “Isn’t it a small world?” category. He had been lowered into a hole to search. Joe is a paramedic and specialist in hazardous materials. His job is with a company that advises other companies about such matters. He had been in fact teaching a class of fireman in New York when the disaster struck. The firemen were called to assist. He upon learning of the tragedy, went likewise to volunteer his services. So that is why he was down in the hole. When he is lifted up to the surface he sees one of the people helping to lift him up is wearing a shirt with large letters GA on it. He inquires if it is for “Germantown Academy”. The man says,” yes”, and then Joe says, “I have twin nephews who attend that school”. The guy says, “You mean Sean and Dave Hopkins?” Wow! Or a word to that effect says Joe. The gentleman knows Dave and Sean since he is an assistant football and/or wrestling coach at the school. So it fits into that category of unbelievable stories. Incidentally when Joe finally arrived home some many hours later he learned that Debbie his wife already knew of the encounter. The gentleman had called his wife to tell her of his meeting with Joe, and she called Dave and Sean’s mom, Tracy, to tell her Joe was all right. Tracy then let Debbie know that he was doing fine. So Joe had no surprise story for Debbie when he arrived home.
The day after Thanksgiving we had a get together at my daughter Mary’ s home in Yardley with all of my gang, except Bill. He works in management at TMI and had to return to his job. I learned too that on Thanksgiving Day Dan, Paul, Mary and her husband Ron, Bill, his son Matthew, and Cousin Richard McSorley all had run in the Turkey Trot Five-Mile Run in Fairmount Park. It always makes me very happy when I see my good habits being imitated by my children since the fear is they’ll pick up the bad ones. I understand, Dan, the family’s reigning marathoner, was continually offering advice to all those that engaged in the trot. Paul, Jr. had the close call of having his nephew Matthew age 15 almost catch him! I was really happy to hear that Bill was running again since he had suffered a severe injury in the form of a clot to his leg. He was incapacitated for a time so hearing he was back even jogging was good news.
We ended the stay with a baby shower for June’s nephew’s wife, Jeannine. It was a great party. Monday was packing day and then off to airport again using our two-hour security time. Once again we were through in no time and then learned that the 7:50 p.m. flight to Tampa was now scheduled for 8:15pm. So we had a little dinner and then noted the flight was now scheduled for 9:05 p.m. We left around 10 p.m. ! We arrived at midnight or a bit after and then waited the usual 20 to 30 minutes for our bags. I had checked on the limo (really a van with that name) that was taking us home. I learned that they too were backed up and running late. To make a long story short we got home around 2:30 a.m.! I had the idea since the airlines were complaining about not enough business that the reduced numbers would help them be on time. It just didn’t.
My reading recently has been “The Bostonians” by Henry James and a C.S.Lewis’ “The World’s Last Night and other Essays”. The “Bostonians” is a paperback, a “Penguin Classic”. James had a celebrated family. His father was a theologian and philosopher and his elder brother William was famous as a philosopher. Henry went to Harvard Law school after attending schools all around the Western world. He wrote novels and other fiction that comprised some 26 volumes. After reading about half of it, I wondered, how does a “book” become entitled to the adjective “classic”? The noun usually refers to Latin and Greek literature, philosophy and history, i.e., the Classics. The dictionary defines the adjective “classic”, as ‘something judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of his kind’. Now Boswell’s biography was ‘outstanding of its kind’, i.e. a first in biography. But who judges? If I had the job I wouldn’t have picked the “Bostonians”. It is Dickens-like plus when it comes to description of physical surroundings. I had confirmed the idea that even though someone may tag it as “Classic”, it doesn’t mean you will enjoy it. But I got so far into it that now I have to find out how it ends! I am hooked on the conflict of the characters and I do want to see who wins and how. Maybe I should just go get one of those abridgements students use to help them get ready for a test on a book. Now, C.S. Lewis was a lot more fun and easier reading. His writing is thought provoking and you like to go back a reread some of his ideas. He had one on what is “culture”, which is a word something like “classic”. No one quite knows what either of them mean but some feel compelled to refer to them as actually existing conditions of behavior or art. He comments that after a certain kind of sherry party, where there have been lots of culture but never one word nor one glance that suggested a real enjoyment of any art, any person, or any natural object. He then sees a schoolboy on the bus who is reading Fantasy and Science Fiction, rapt and oblivious of the world. Here, he says, is something real and live and a genuine literary experience. Those who have greatly cared for any book whatever, may possibly come to care, some day for what are called “good books”.
We gave ourselves a Christmas gift June and I. We went to Disney world for three days. We spent one day at MGM studios, one at Epcot, and one at the Magic Kingdom. The Epcot day was a gem. It ended with an outdoor concert in the hall opposite the United States exhibit. There was a full orchestra and some four or five hundreds voices of choirs from all over Florida. There was a narrator usually a notable from TV or the like. He reads the Nativity story. After each verse or so he pauses while the orchestra plays and choir sings carols. We were down front and had a great view of a woman using sign language to convey the entire show. She was a show all by herself.
We wish you all a Happy Christmas and a great New Year!