Sweet Memories

"When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in
truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight"~Kahlil Gibran

 

It is always hard to lose someone. The grief and pain seem unbearable and the worst part is, when you experience that loss, it reminds me of how much you miss the people who have gone before.

 My mother's cousin, Veronica( though everyone called her Ronnie) passed away this week after a very long battle with cancer. This is how I remember her.

As an adult whenever we came to town for visits, my dad and I, sometimes just me, would take my kids to Sunday evening mass at St. Peter and Pauls. I love this mass because you are ALWAYS gaurenteed an excellent homily. My kids and my brother Matt refer to Fr. Frank Pizzarelli as Fr. Jesus. He has longer hair and wears sandles. His homilies are typically about disadvantaged youth, as that is where he works during the week and he delivers a great message.

Anyway, we would sit in the same spot when we would go, which would happen to be behind cousin Ronnie. Afterwards we would talk with her about her kids, her work with children with autism, her siblings. "How is your mom?" "Wow, your kids are getting big"  that kind of thing and she was always smiling. There were a few visits when we didn't see her and my Mom said she had gotten cancer. But then months later she was back! Still smiling and joyful, even when she wore her cap when she lost her hair after chemo, when she got better and she laughed about her curly baby hair that grew back. It seemed like she had it beat! My kids would return to my mom and dad's house after church ready for the drill, "Who did you see?" "Did you know anyone at church?" (Sometime I wonder if she is curious or checking to see if we really went! but that is another story) "We saw your cousin Ronnie!" was the response!

This past year (through Facebook), I was able to have my life enriched by Ronnie's little sister, Jeannie AKA 'Cousin Jeannie', who is actually my age. You know how these big Italian families are. She is the youngest daughter of the youngest daughter on my Mom's Dad's side. Like Ronnie, a pure delight, so real so easy to talk to and our daughters clicked. Jeannie posted pictures this Fall, "My sister danced at her daughter's wedding!" Such joy! So many happy, bright faces!

I grieve for Jeannie, as I know how traumtic it is to lose a sibling, for her children and husband and friends, as a bright, happy person who added pure joy and realness to this world is gone. Gibran is right: she was our delight.

I also grieve for my friend Mike, who lost his brother-in-law and my dear friend Kathy, who lost her husband this year. Such beauty and delight that is gone from our lives.

I try to remember this statement, particularly when experiencing something like this. At a funeral I went to over 20 years ago, the Dad got up afterward and said,

"My son Matt was a Life boy, he loved life. So don't be sad for him, be happy. Because he has what we all want, eternal life."

 

HERSHEY, THE GREAT AMERICAN AMUSEMENT PARK

We enjoyed our first day of summer. My conference is actually very good. The speaker I have is engaging and I am learning a lot.

The kids are also enjoying themselves....pool all afternoon yesterday and then they were ready to go to hershey park at 5pm. So as tired as I was I drove from the Hotel (not far from Hershey) and by 6pm the kids were on their first ride! No lines, so they really enjoyed themselves. The longest line was for their last ride, the water ride. Dinner at 8pm in the park, then strolling along, going in the shops and stuff. Then we ened with Chocolate world, where they infuse the air with the smell of chocolate. YUMMY!!! We bought some chocolate and were back at the hotel by 10pm and then closed the pool!!! Love those die-hard Murphy ids!!

Well I slept through the night, the first time in .....well over a year. and was out of bed at 7:15. when I checked on the kids at the 10am break...they were still sleeping....

I LOVE SUMMER!

We just left the pool and are going to skype with the cousins soon.

Hope you are enjoying your first days of summer too.

Vacation

"Hooray, Hooray! 

We're on our way! 

Our summer vacation starts today!"  

Stan and Jan Berenstein

First stop: Hershey PA

I have a conference in Hershey. We leave tomorrow around 9am. I already forgot to pick up my medication ( I wanted to leave earlier but I have to wait for the pharmacy to open) I am bringing the kids with me, so in the evening we are taking advantage of the the $27.50 admission after 5pm. There is also an indoor/outdoor pool at the hotel. :) 

This afternoon we pack, yuck. Packing for 2 weeks. We are headed to the Mall for some last minute things, golf bag for Jack. I was going to have him use my old one but it is faded and dirty. I also had one of his birthday gifts shipped there. It's a hat that I designed myself. There is a Marlin on it and it says Murph across the top. He had a good time with his friends, cookout, water gun fights, flashlight tag, a board game (Life) and then "Clear and Present Danger" (It came out the year before he was born!) They stayed up late and I got up at 6:30am to make a zucchini bake. It was gone by 9am!

Enjoy this beautiful Sunday. I will try to update from the road.

Oh and they both got into Camp Cadet!

Summer 2010

I may still be working but the kids are enjoying their first official day of vacation. They ate candy for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch and I made pizza for dinner. They skyped with their cousins and then played Wii with them over the internet.

Then in preparation for Camp Cadet we hiked out to the school (OK sue me...I DROVE) but we did 2 miles. They walked a lap and ran a lap. I mostly walked but the last lap....I RAN THE WHOLE 400!!! I will most likely be downing the Advil tomorrow but I was shocked I had that stamina in me.

They will be fine at Camp Cadet...after we were finished they ran up the hill to the car. They could have ran the whole 2 miles.

Tomorrow, pushups and situps. Also-Kate has a baby sitting job and Jack has the same kids on Thursday. I thought I would break it up so they don't get sick of each other.

Summer academics:

We will continue our Latin lessons, plus we are reading "The Little Prince". It is loaded with themes and symbolism and great quotes and insights. I read it in 8th grade and Heaven Forbid if they were made to read a challenging novel in school or worse yet, given a summer reading list, so I do my own.

Tomorrow after work we are also going to the library to get some Tom Clancy for Jack plus a book on CD for our travels. Kate has some Beverly Cleary to read for the summer.

Jack turns 15 on Friday, so he is having some friends over after I am done with work. I know, 15!

All this in one week as next week I have a conference in hershey and then onto NY for my sister's wedding!!!

Made some good CD's of music mixes for the trip. and listening to it now.....almost midnight. Up in 6 hours. Sigh.

I have been trying to eat healthier and be neater. Such a trial for me but this is how my sad little kitchen table looks when I brighten it up. I got these pretty dishcloths for Christmas and I refuse to use them. Kate made the planter for me in Home Ec and a mystery herb is growing in it. The candle is a mandarin orange and smells very nice. 

This school year has had its challenges. I think back to first semester and I remember Jack's heartache with football. Ugh. Don't even like thinking about it as It makes me cry. He has had his ups and downs this year. The best thing about this year is watching him grow ...morally and ethically and seeing little things he does in school to include the forgotten people and how how he has adult conversations with his teachers. His sense of humor is so sarcastic and hilarious. When he and his buddy David get together all they do is laugh. We took quite a few trips to the orthodontist and it was so enjoyable to spend time with him. Talking about everything. I saw his humor and his common sense and morality and enjoyed every minute of it. 

He lost his toad and his turtle this year and I grieved for him. I hate seeing my kids suffer and this was really hard. One fun thing we did this school year was a monthly game, movie and dinner night. His buddies would come over and play video games, watch a movie and I would cook my Italian specialities and it was WONDERFUL. So nice to be around young men (and they are men now) who still enjoy being kids and having wholesome fun. The last get together we had a cookout and they played capture the flag and flashlight tag. They ran through the house and yard and tracked in pine needles and wet leaves and it was AWESOME!

Kate had an incredible school year. She tried a sport and was quite good at volleyball. She cooked different foods with me on weekends and even some week nights. Her grades were Fantastic and she had the highest GPA in her grade the last nine weeks. I don't know if she can ever pull that off again, but she did it once and I could not be prouder of her!!

Her friends are dears and she usually just likes having one or two over at a time, not 1/2 dozen like Jack. But I enjoy them too and she is a good, kind, Christian girl. She tries to be kind to kids that aren't included all the time too and I love her for that.

Both of them earned top good citizenship awards in their grades this year...I guess I am doing something right..

 Here they are dressed up for their Camp Cadet interviews if all goes well, I will be alone the last week of July. As proud as I am of them doing this, I will miss them terribly.