|
I’d like to thank Fr. Hand for making this Mass so personal and for coming up here
from his parish in Ridley Park.
I want to start this by thanking my wife, Carol, for ‘just doing it’... she just
does it.
As I thought about what I might say to honor Mom’s memory as she leaves our
company for a while, I couldn’t come up with the words.
But regarding our memories, I’m always a little troubled that my last memories are
the clearest and when you are with someone who has been sick, there are a lot of
details you would rather forget quickly.
I also think about that question that kids of all ages ponder when remembering
those that went before us. If she was old when she died, is she old in heaven?
If someone dies young are they eternally young?
God willing we’ll all find out how that works.
So, I wanted a memory of Mom that would be a little more timeless and get me past
the recent memory and believe it or not, one was dropped in my lap.
Carol and I needed to find one of Mom’s insurance cards recently and were looking
everywhere. Mom kept a couple pocketbooks at the foot of her chair and they were the most likely place to
find the lost card. I went through them thoroughly and as I was looking through one, some old, hand-written, letters
fell out.
They were written over fifty years ago and were her own recollections of her wedding
day and honeymoon. She had them with her! I’d like to share the first one
with you. It is a memory of a younger Stell.
Oh,and as I read it, think about the possibility that she could have written it a minute ago... |
|
Saturday
April 27th, “Our Wedding Day!” It
was raining when we got up at We
prayed hard that it would stop, it didn’t, but it wasn’t too bad. We
were all rushing around getting ready. The
kids all got dressed, then Mother, Dad and Bud. The
bridesmaids started getting dressed and finally me. The
flowers came, then the cars. Joe’s
mother and father and Madeline came down about Mother
left with them for church. Dad,
the girls and I left about I
wasn’t a bit nervous or excited just so very happy walking up the aisle to meet
my Joe. He
was standing there looking so cute and sort of scared. Fr.
Walsh married us and the Mass was beautiful. I
loved being so close to the Tabernacle. We
came out about Joe
was the first one to call me Mrs. Bucher and the photographer the first one to
call me “his” wife. I
forgot! we went to the convent, too, and the nuns
seemed so thrilled to see us. After
the pictures we went for breakfast at the Fr.
Walsh was there. He is really funny. Then home and just loafing around. More
wedding presents to open. About
I
think everyone was there. All
the noise and excitement was finally getting to me and I began to get sick a
little and very nervous. Finally
I cut the wedding cake and threw the bouquet, Then
with the help of my new father and Dotty and Anna we finally got away. I
was very excited till the train pulled out at We
arrived in We
had a nice room on the 15th floor. We
finally got to bed about The
end of our wedding day, all our waiting is over. I’m
Joe’s wife, I love him so very, very much and I’m so very, very happy. |