Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas Eve Eve

Well its the day before the day before Christmas and our son Mike has been with us for 4 days and is grooving on the Bahamas. The wind had died down and we took him to a few beaches which kind of blew him away - something about 3 miles of white sand with not another person anywhere in sight. Suffice it to say he is 'on vacation' and loving it.

I'll give him credit for attending 3 Masses on his first weekend with us and meeting all the locals. He even came in with us when we did a visit to Anna, a homebound 94 year-old blind woman we bring communion to. White sandy beaches, and desperate poverty all on the same day.

We took him to the local restaurant, 'Hank's Place' and he hand cracked conche while taking in the Bahamian decore of Hank's (everything from old Bahamian license plates to shark jaws and 5' wide turtle shells cover the walls of this local place. We know the waitresses and they were very friendly, but one we did not know came over and it turns out she wants to get her daughter into CCD. The conversation included a bit about her daughter, but also some of her family situation, so Mike's dinner conversation wasn't exactly what he expected. With that said he went with the flow and was just as friendly as Mike can be (if you know Mike you know that's a good thing).

One development we hadn't expected was that the priest who will be with us for Christmas arrived early - for this weekend before Christmas and he will be with us through Christmas and for the following weekend. This means our little mission of Ginni and I has suddenly doubled to 4 people.

Fr. Miseal is from Columbia, studying at Boston College, and over the Christmas break joined another Jesuit to come help cover the family islands for Christmas. He's been great and he and Mike have become fast friends - he has offered to take Mike to a Columbian restaurant when they return home, and Mike has offered to take him to his favorite Sushi bar in Brookline, just a few miles from BC.

What complicated his arrival was exams at BC so he flew to Nassau on Saturday, then to Andros Sunday morning - arriving 15 minutes before Mass began. To make things simpler I preached and when we were done with the 2nd service in Cargill Creek and had made the communion call he finally got to open his suitcase around 2 that afternoon, then joined us to watch the Patriots demolish the Cardinals in the snow (Yes, the CBS affiliate carried that Pat's game that week).

Over this past week we have taken Mike and Fr. M to 2 beaches - in each the beaches were all deserted and we had miles of white sand and aqua ocean.

Today we plan to visit the disabled boy up the street and another woman we have heard of but have never found at home when we visit. Fr. M looks forward to this type of pastoral one on one encounter with the people and the home visits have been great. He's been with us on two already and today will be two more.

As I type this Herbie has arrived. Herbie is the town alcoholic and when he comes by he usually leaves with one of Ginni's egg sandwiches. Today he brought a coconut and Mike is watching him crack it open with a machete and pour the milk into a bowl for us (Mike hates coconut milk). It's an interesting picture to say the least.

All in all I think this will be a vacation Mike will remember for awhile.

3 comments:

Sue said...

Dear Deacon Frank and Ginni-
Merry Christmas to you and all your family!

--Fondly,

The Petro Family

Lori said...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Love,
Lori and Adam

The Roys said...

Frank,
Rich and I just laughed so hard at your UPS package story...
We hope you are surviving okay without Ginni. Maybe we'll see her at St. Tim's tomorrow.
Happy New Year!! Love, Jo&Rich