Not sure what to write about today, but I feel I must keep doing this.
I haven't wanted to go to the house--when I do go, I can't stay long. I get too emotional. I went for only a few minutes today to get something from the freezer. We are trying to not let their leftover food go to waste.

I must try to focus on the positive--as hard as that might be. Joe, my brother, mentioned trying to focus on the positive things Mom and Dad gave us. The first thing that comes to mind was their tremendous Faith. That is their greatest gift to those they left behind.

Dad said the rosary EVERY day. Usually, he went for a walk in the evenings and prayed it as he walked. One night in December he was walking up by the church and he fell. He did not remember if he just didn't see the curb or what, but he went down. He hurt his hand, skinned his chin and busted his lip. At that time, Mom and I convinced him to stop walking at night when it was hard to see. We wondered if he had blacked out. He didn't seem to know. Ironically, this happened on the SAME day that Mom fell at the library. She had come to see me and tripped over a curb when going to the car where Dad was waiting for her. She broke her finger. It was bent on the end and even after wearing a splint, the doctor told her it might never be straight again. She was still wearing a bandage on that finger--which is why she wasn't wearing her wedding ring at the time of the accident. The finger was still bothering her and swollen a bit. (It was her ring finger on her left hand.) Anyway, it was so strange that they both fell on the same day. I remember worrying that they would start falling more. I joked with them and said they weren't allowed out of the house anymore.

A funny thing about this story. Mom wanted to go to the Emergency Room to have her finger x-rayed. So Dad dropped her off at Dunn Hospital--and then he went grocery shopping! I remember laughing with them about it. She didn't want him to wait with her and he probably didn't want to and besides, he had groceries to get!!! That was so typical of them both.

Back to Dad and the rosary. When we went to Yellowstone last summer, Dad still made sure he said the rosary. I remember one night at the hotel in Jackson Hole, WY. We had all gone to bed. Mom and Dad and I were sharing a room with John in a joining room. So anyway, we had all gone to bed but I woke up to see Dad sitting there in the dark in a chair praying the rosary. I said something like you better go to bed before you fall asleep. He went to bed shortly after, but I will never forget him doing that--even on vacation, he still made time to pray. What an example he set.

Sometimes when I went over to visit them, Mom would be upstairs in Joe and John's old bedroom reading her Catholic magazines or prayer books. She liked to read the Liguorian. She had saved several years worth and marked different passages. Sometimes if I was struggling with something, she would find an issue that pertained to my issue and loan it to me. She always wanted it back, though. :-) I know she read certain parts over and over. They both read the Criterion whenever it came.

Mom and Dad really enjoyed going to their Saturday time at the Adoration Chapel.
I know I mentioned it before; Saturdays from 10-11. It was VERY important to them and they would not miss it.

Regardless of when Mom and Dad went to St. Paul's, they always had to tell me who preached. They've been going their for years. All the way back to when it was Father Bob Sims and Father Kim. Then it was Father Dan and Father Joe Moriarty. They liked them all. Now it was Father Rich (who presided at their Funeral Mass), Father Bob and Father Stan. They liked them all, too, especially Father Rich which was why we asked him to have their Mass. Dad would always say, "We heard a good homily today." Going to Mass meant so much to them. It was what the rest of their week revolved around.

Their Catholic Faith meant so much to them. I'm not saying they were Saints. But they really, truly loved their Faith and believed with all of their hearts. That is what gives me comfort now. I KNOW they are with God. It is what they lived for.

Susie