Requiscat in Pace

Frank died on Saturday.

Every Sunday for at least 5 years, Frank would meet his sister Rose at the place where I used to work. Taking the train from Saugus, Rose, who barely reached 5 ft and always kept her purse under the arm, would slowly walk down the ramp, say hello to us and then take a seat by the rest rooms.

Twenty minutes later, just off the Red Line train from Quincy, Frank would come down the ramp, wearing his red suspenders, and start flirting. Frank was in his 70’s and obviously had a mental disability which gave him the demeanor of a child. He also had a cleft lip which sometimes made him difficult to understand.

I was his girlfriend and he always wanted a kiss on the cheek. Alas, I did not have his exclusive affection. There was another employee he liked and Frank always had an eye for cute, young employees, especially if they were blonde. 

The visit would last 30 minutes and then Frank and Rose would shuffle off to McDonalds for lunch. Before I left the job in November, Frank didn’t look so spry and he seemed to lack the energy he once had.

Hubby, who still works at the same place, gave me the news on Sunday that Frank died and the wake would be Monday. So yesterday we drove the Matrix over to Malden to the funeral home. There was Frank looking like he did in life. Rosary beads drapped over his folded hands. Rose saw us and we chatted with her for awhile.

She pointed to the flowers arranged on either side of the casket, “Those flowers came from the CVS in Quincy and those came from the Dunkin Donuts in Wollaston.” Rose told us that we just missed the Mayor of Quincy who came to pay his respects. Frank always told the Mayor how to run the city. With the Mayor were three Quincy police officers who gave the family a Quincy police badge. If Frank had been buried in Quincy, he would have been given a police escort. Frank’s sister-in-law pinned the badge to his jacket. 

Frank was a simple soul living a simple life and that simplicity spoke volumes.

Happy April’s Fools Day!!!

I have no tricks for you. Promise!

Wasn’t yesterday such a gorgeous day? Hubby and I swept our suburban oasis and dumped the stray leaves into the swamp land next door to the condo. Not only are we planning many grillicous meals in the coming weeks but I’m hoping to grow some basil and thyme in a planter box that Hubby will attach to the patio wall. Whoo!!!

After all that sweeping and planning, we sat back and enjoyed a bottle of Madeira; our first bottle of the season. And it all went right to my head. Whoo!!!

To balance out the mellow, we got Chinese take-out from Chopsticks, our local asian eatery. Hubby gets General Gao’s chicken and veggie lo-mein and I must have crab rangoon (no cream cheese…no cream cheese…I tell myself over and over…) and bean curd, homestyle, no meat. Whoo!!

The delightful day ended with a Bruins victory over Tampa Bay. Whoo!!

In two days I’ll be motoring to Maine to celebrate Augusta Bro’s B-Day. Whoo!!

And that ain’t no April’s Fool joke.

This Got Me

Hat Tip: The Dawn Patrol

“Before Pope Benedict came to America to celebrate Mass in New York and Washington, it was revealed that as a young boy in Germany he had a cousin with Down Syndrome. One day a Nazi doctor came and claimed his cousin for the Third Reich. [As the boy was] taken to be ‘cared for’ at the ‘hospital,’ young Joseph Ratzinger never saw his cousin again: one of the host of ‘useless eaters’ marked for extermination by that brutal regime.

“My wife and I operate St. Joseph’s House, a daycare and respite care home for handicapped children. As it happened one of the children we care for, a wheelchair bound young lady, was chosen along with three other handicapped folks to carry the gifts up to the altar before the consecration at the Mass at Nationals Stadium in Washington D.C. on April 17, 2008. One of these was James, a 30ish man who works in the Officer’s Club at Andrews AFB. James has Down Syndrome. He was chosen to carry the large host which would become the Body of Christ lifted up before the assembled. As James with great ceremony advanced toward the Pope, his native enthusi­asm overcame his reserve and he started to run. Simultaneously the Holy Father leapt from his chair and walked towards James with his arms out­stretched. We have a picture of this moment which I cannot look at without tearing up. What did he see as he gazed so lovingly at James? I believe he saw his cousin. I believe he saw the face of Jesus. And I believe that his great prayer as he elevated that host on that impossibly beautiful day was ‘As long as you did these to the least of my brethren, you did it to Me.’

“The next day April 18th, a boy was born to of all people, the Gover­nor of Alaska. They named him Trig.”

This election is more than just politics.