Retreat

I have gone to the retreat several times with my daughter Ann. Her husband Dick recently received a 25 year attendance pin. It is a beautiful place, very peaceful. You arrive there for supper on a Friday and leave about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday after a delicious dinner. Everyone gets a small room with a bed, a chair, card table with holy books for a desk, a large comfortable chair, and a place to hang clothes. There is a bathroom and sink for every two rooms. We get a small envelope and we put in whatever we can afford. The retreat is run by priests. They are very friendly. The retreat is held separately for men and women. They also have a religious store where you can buy small gifts.

At 7:00 a.m. a bell rings. Everyone gets up and gets dressed. At 7:45 a.m., we all go to chapel to meditate. At 8:00 a.m. we go for breakfast, then to talk session with the priest in the Forum room. We are quiet most of the time with no talking to anyone else, only whispering when necessary. Then we have an hour to ourselves to read, go for a walk on the lovely grounds or chat with a friend. At noon we go to lunch and then another talk session with the priest. About 2:30 p.m. we go outside to do the Stations of the Cross. They are set in a wooded area with only walking paths. Then a short rest period. Afterwards we have supper. Their meals are superb with cakes and pies, all home cooked right at the place. We also say the Rosary. We go to mass every evening and receive holy communion. We also go to confession while there. There is a priest you can talk to privately. By the time you go home you feel very holy. My husband and I went to church every Sunday. We received communion and led a good life. On our way home from church we usually visited one of the children.

June is a busy month, with five grandchildren's birthdays and two anniversaries. It means we have to save a lot of money for the different affairs, but we enjoy doing it.

Flashback to 1967: When our first grandchild Judy graduated from eighth grade, my husband was arguing that he was too busy and wasn't going to be able to go. I had a very good talk with him and made him understand that if he didn't go to Judy's graduation he couldn't go to any other graduation. He finally understood what I was saying. He attended all the other graduations. My husband and I talked together and decided to give all the grandchildren a bond on their graduation and birthdays. Later came the college graduations; then they received 30 dollars. I am still doing that today.

Sometimes we had two high school graduations on the same day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We had a lot of running around. Some of the granddaughters took dancing lessons and we would go to their recitals. It would roll back the years and let us remember our two daughters Phyl and Carmela's dancing lessons and how Ann played the clarinet. We tried to be good parents. End Flash

Flashback to 1940's: When we took our children to the dentist, they liked him. He was gentle. My husband and I had gone to him ourselves for many years. His name was Dr. Rider, his practice was in Chatham, N.J. Dr. Rider used to tell the children, “You don't know how lucky you are to have such good parents. When you go home from school, who do you find?” The children would answer, “We find our mother. She gives us egg nog and cookies. Then she talks to us about school.” The dentist told them many children go home after school and find an empty house, no one to greet them or to talk to them; their mothers gone to play bridge. Sometimes other children would find a maid in the house, too busy working to pay any attention to them. Dr. Rider would say, “Be good to your parents. They live their life to keep you happy. They love you very much.” End Flash