All Soul’s Day

Today we celebrated the friends and family who have died…especially those who died this past year. We were very honored to have our son, Joe Messina, recognized at our parish tonight at the All Soul’s Day Mass. Each family was called up to light their loved one’s candle. It was a beautiful, if not difficult Mass to attend. I was in Mass when Joe was killed, so being there is sometimes hard… and sometimes comforting. It depends on the day. We also were able to honor a dear friend of mine, who was so wonderful to comfort me when Joe died. She was diagnosed with brain cancer when we were in Alaska this summer and Becky went to be with the Lord on Oct 1st. It is still so strange to go to church and not see her there. I promised her I would check in on her husband, Joe, here on earth, if she would hug my son, Joe, when she saw him in heaven. The lights kept flickering during the service and Fr. Mark said it was our loved ones letting us know they were here with us. It went on all during the service…and all the lights went out for a second or two at one point. Rich whispered in my ear, “That is totally something Joe would do.” Talking with Becky’s husband, Joe, after the service, I told him what Rich said. I told him that Becky was nudging Joe off to the side and turning the lights back on…totally being a mom and ultimate control freak that she was. We got a good laugh out of that. My dear friend, Emily, was one of the many women who made desserts for a reception after the service. She told us she had planned on making Rice Krispy treats but something nudged her to make scotcheroos. We had to laugh at that because that nudge was from Joe. Scotcheroos are his favorite. Emily said she had no idea. We ate our dessert first then headed to Village Inn for dinner. We were greeted by our waitress who told us it was free pie Wednesday. That immediately brought our thoughts back to Joe and Zac and their high school friends who would make sure they went to Village Inn on free pie night. I still am shaking my head and smiling at the fact those two knew when all the free food was given out at the different places. The memories make us smile, but my goodness, Joe is so very missed.

This was the end of our day. The middle of it wasn’t so great. The weather was windy but warm for this time of year. By warm, I mean 75 degrees! Of course, they are predicting snow for the weekend….welcome to fall in the Midwest. We decided to go to Standing Bear Lake for a walk with the dog. The loop around the lake is a little over 3 miles. About 25 minutes into our walk, Rich started to get texts and calls from our bank, saying that our cards had been compromised. Of course we were on foot, and halfway around the lake. By the time we got back, we were welcomed to a smashed in passenger window and my purse, which was tucked under my seat, gone. This was not how I wanted to spend my afternoon….chasing after some loser who stole my purse because the police wouldn’t. Honestly, we were just hoping that he dumped my purse somewhere he had been. I had things in my purse that were irreplaceable to me. Let’s just say that some people really are awful and I just don’t know how much more I can take at this point. So now we are down a car, I have no identification or access to my money. I am now counting the days until we can leave here. Bring me the wide open country, please.

I am glad we had Mass tonight where I could quiet my soul and concentrate on something other than this unfortunate incident.