“Tis heaven alone that is given away,
‘Tis only God may be had for the asking;
No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer.
And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays”
— EXCERPT FROM: “JUNE” by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
What is so rare as a day in June in Florida in 2007 was RAIN. We got some on the first day of June and then a whole day of downpour the night into the second day. On the second day we had the street flooded and a power line catching fire resulting in no power for several hours. But by early evening the street was clearing.
May 2007 is now history, the past, and a memory but it will remain with me for sometime due to the events in that month on my birthday. June had planned sometime ago that we would go to Disney World for my birthday. Then we received word from my son Paul that he and his family were coming to visit Disney world and would arrived on my birthday. They planned to come in via Tampa so they could visit and maybe have dinner. June advised him of our plans and so we next learned he was giving us a Luau Dinner on the day after my birthday at the Polynesia Resort in Disney World.
So we were off to Disney at 8 AM on that day and we had our first pleasant surprise: we covered the 90 miles in 90 minutes arriving at our hotel at 9:30 AM. We have been lucky in the past to cover the trip in that time coming from Disney before, but never going. It was an omen of other firsts that would occur during our visit. We checked into the hotel and then were off to Epcot, one of our favorite spots. But first we had to stop at the ‘customer service’ office to get our passes issued. In doing so we had to produce i.d.’s to show we were legitimate Florida residence and thus entitled to the lower priced passes. As we stood watching the attendant preparing our passes we noticed he was printing something on a badge. I thought maybe they changed the mode of ‘passes’ and now we would wear a badge and not have plastic cards. But no when he handed out the passes he also handed us the badge, which read “HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL’ and under that it read: “ Walt Disney World, Where Dreams Come True”. It was another first and a surprise. So as we went about Epcot the entire day all the Disney attendants greeted us with a “ Happy Birthday Paul!”
Another first was being part of the Showcase Players performance in the street where England is reproduced. One time previously June had been picked to perform, actually it is not performing as much as just to sitting among the performers and answering their questions. She was selected as Judith in a rendition of “Romeo and Judith”. I was selected to sit as King Arthur in the myth of him seeking the Holy Grail with the help of Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot along with Guinevere. Then that night at dinner in the restaurant where we were staying we got another first. After our meal three waitresses came out of the kitchen with a dish of vanilla ice cream topped by a candle and surrounded by the makings of a sundae. They proceeded to sing “Zipideedodah, Zipideeday, Paul have a happy birthday!” It was small dining area so every one in there stared over at the performance. One of those we saw later a couple of times as we wandered about the next day. He gave me a “Hi! Paul” like we were old buddies. The next day we were attending a performance of I think “ The Monster Laughs” where the friendly monster communicated with the members of the audience. When he talked to them they appeared on a big screen over the stage. Sure enough we were interviews. He asked June where she was born and she told him Philadelphia. As soon as the interview was finished some of the characters sang a song with words that included “June from Philadelphia!” On Thursday we met my son, Paul, his wife Janine, and daughter, Kristen at Magic Kingdom. They were off to rolling rides and we were off to our favorite ride “Buzz Lightyear”. Your ride a cart that can be turned left or right and each passenger has a laser gun. You shoot at the ‘aliens’ all around you and get a score if you make a hit. I won the first round just about but on the second time we went June slaughtered me. We were going to try a third but the crowd had gotten too big so we thought we might try later. We didn’t so we’ll need to go back one of these days to settle the tie! Thursday night we had another first attending a Luau Dinner. We were the guests of Paul, and Janine. It is a family type meal and during it there is music and dancing on the stage opposite where we sat eating.
So it was a week of ‘firsts’ including on the third day my age showed up in the form of backaches that had me sitting most of the day. Birthdays I’ve noticed before remind us we are getting older, and the aches and pains contribute to that reminder.
May also brought a sad time for us. The Lord called a good friend home. He was Lou Rosetti. We knew him and his wife, Jean since at least 1997. He was one of first people at church to introduce himself and welcome us. He was active in Via de Christo movement and our Discovery weekend retreats. We over the past few years had reunions with him and others on Monday nights. He was a member of the ROMEO’s (Real Old Men Eating Out) who ate lunch together one day a week. He did so until recently his health made it impossible for him to join us. He too celebrated a birthday in May on the ninth and he was 81 years young. I wrote a history of the church to celebrate the 40th anniversary. I covered the years from 1990 to 2005. I read the prior history from the founding of the church in 1965 till 1990. In both periods the name Lou Rosetti appeared quite often regarding the building of the church and to the creation of other programs. His health has been failing for some years now. I would call often to see how he was doing. I did so on May 22nd then Jean told me she thought he might have had a slight heart attack since one arm was paralyzed for a while. She said she was waiting for a call from the doctor. I suggested she call 911. When I told June what I had learned she immediately said “We’re going to their home” We did and spent some time with him me laying on the bed beside him and June standing on the other side of him holding his hand before the emergency vehicle arrived. He seemed as well as that he had been for sometime now. I went out with him to the vehicle and clearly felt we would see him again soon. However when I called around six p.m. his son told me with tears the sad news that he had died. He had an abdominal aortic aneurysm on which they could not operate due to his other health conditions. It apparently burst causing his death.
We thank the Lord for letting us be with him just few hours before he was called home. June has no idea what made her decide we should go to his home. We had never done such a thing before on hearing some one was going to be hospitalized. It was to us a ‘God thing’. We will miss him but considering the suffering and difficulties of this last year we know now he is free of all those ailments and believe he is surely home with Lord. It is at times like these that the belief in the Almighty and the hope of eternity soothes a bit the sense of loss. To not believe in God for me is a idea of little merit. Especially being reminded of what the disbelief carries with it. Recently I read the following thought “… (our) postmodern consciousness as it sees our human predicament today:-(is that we are)… alone amid an accidental universe, ether without end, stars dying and being born in a random, an ultimately purposeless process of filling out the cosmic consequences of the Big Bang”. In other words we are mere accidents with no purpose and end as same as animals. How one can dismiss the idea of a Creator, an Almighty being, and the spiritual part of man is beyond my comprehension. What are our consciousness, our memory, our emotions, and our free will but non-material substances. Science, as hard as it has tried for centuries, has not proven that these characteristics are composed of material substance. These characteristics make us ‘rational beings’ not just animals. They are not made of matter. Historically atheism is a recent conundrum of the renaissance age. It certainly wasn’t a ‘re-birth’ with regard to an existing transcendental being. It instead killed the idea and gave man the prospect of having an accidental beginning and no purposeful ending. So we should be happy and work towards being nothing but ashes when we die. We are just another animal and the spiritual non-physical part of us is ignored. I find that difficult to believe.
We will do a bit of traveling most of the rest of June. We will be sure to report those adventures, at least in part, next time. Pax Tecum