Ask me! By the time you read this, my mom will be out of the rehab center. Thanks for all of your prayers and best wishes! My mom was counting the days in a major way this past week. If there were such a thing as a “rehab release countdown timer,” she would have had one! I discovered that the whole issue of when you’re going to be released is something on your mind constantly in a rehab center as you watch the friends you’ve made at mealtime or at therapy start to go home. It’s been a long two months!

About two weeks ago, I got a call from my dad. “Mike, I’ve got my first crisis on my hands,” he said. Right away, I was trying to figure out what the crisis could have been. His voice seemed rather calm, so I wasn’t too overly concerned. I started to think he probably had an issue with his computer or maybe an Alexa was acting up. “What’s the crisis,” I asked. “Well, I went to grab an ice cream in the freezer, and it was all mushy. I think the fridge is on the fritz.” Well, this WAS serious. Shortly before my mom went into the hospital and then the rehab center, my parents stocked the freezer to the hilt. We also bought my dad a bunch of frozen dinners to survive on in between meals with my mom, us kids and grandkids (as much as we were on “mom patrol” in visiting her at the rehab center we were also on “dad patrol” in taking him out to eat and helping with stuff around the house). Thankfully, a few of us were free that evening, so “ BERT” got activated … oh, sorry, I mean the “ Bugarin Emergency Response Team.” I was the first to arrive. Sure enough, I confirmed what my dad thought: something was wrong with the fridge. You didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. I had hoped that cleaning the coils would have resurrected it, but the coils were clean. Even if it couldn’t be repaired, we still had to clean it out. We then spent the next hour dumping out the full fridge and freezer of all the soft and warm food. While we hoped a repair could be made, a quick and kind visit by our singing commercial refrigeration specialist who lives not too far from my parents (thank you Julian) confirmed the compressor was deader than dead. By the time we added up the costs of parts and labor to install a new compressor, it was better to buy a new refrigerator. So that became our plan!

A day or two later, I decided we would get a “day pass” for my mom so she could be part of the shopping experience. After picking up my dad, we then drove to Romeo to get my mom, and then off we went to ABC Warehouse back near Lakeside. This shopping experience was going to be fast because we (my mom and I) were with penny pincher George (my dad). WE could spend hours shopping; my dad sticks to his list. It was also going to be fast because the space limitations in the kitchen were such that it would narrow down our choices to only a few refrigerators. My mom knew exactly what she wanted, but she also wanted to get an upright freezer that we could put in the garage. My dad wasn’t so convinced about the extra freezer, but my mom and I kept talking fast enough so he couldn’t get in a word edgewise as we spoke to the salesperson; plus penny pincher George was outnumbered (my mom and I know how to play the game)! In the end, we got the refrigerator and the additional upright freezer. While my dad was paying for everything and setting up the delivery, I took my mom on a ride down a few other aisles to see if we could add anything else to the bill. In the end, my mom didn’t want to stretch it too far. After all, we got the extra freezer.

As we left the store and were heading to the car, I asked my mom how she was doing. It was already a long day for her because she had physical and occupational therapy earlier that morning. I was also testing the waters to see if they wanted to go anywhere else. My mom acknowledged she was pretty tired and wanted to go back to Wellbridge. After she finished talking, there was a bit of silence as we continued toward the car. My dad then chimed in, “Well, ask me how I’m doing.” “Oh, crud,” I thought to myself. Some son I am; I only asked my mom how she was doing and didn’t even bother asking my dad. I felt terrible (but only for a nano-second). “So, dad, how are YOU doing,” I dutifully asked. His response wasn’t something I had anticipated, but it was priceless. He blurted out: “BROKE.” Needless to say, we all burst out into laughter.

Capital Campaign Update: During my CSA talks in early June, I mentioned we were still about $200,000 short of our Capital Campaign Goal of $2,000,000. I was making the case that I was hoping parishioners would be extra generous with their CSA pledges because any amount over our CSA goal of $234,440 would return to the Parish. After one of my talks that weekend, I was approached by someone who said he wasn’t a parishioner but comes to daily mass here frequently. He grew up in the area and went to school here; he wanted to give back to the Parish. He then told me he wanted to give $200,000 to the campaign. His generosity floored me. He shared a beautiful story about why he was moved to be generous to SJA in thanksgiving for all he has received in life. A few days later, I received a check for $100,000 with a commitment to have the balance of his $200,000 gift paid off by the end of the fiscal year! God bless him! With his commitment, we are now at $1,974,780 towards our goal. Thanks to our generous donor and to ALL who have supported the Maintaining God’s House Capital Campaign.

While I’m writing about the Capital Campaign, I wanted to mention that I sent out pledge statements recently to everyone regardless of their pledge payment cycle or if they elected not to receive statements. In my “efficiency,” I made a little error that caused some confusion. It was brought to my attention that the statements listed July 31st as the next due date for all pledge payments regardless of the payment schedule. The referenced “due date” was for our monthly donors; it wasn’t meant for our quarterly, semi-annual or annual donors. Sorry about the confusion. Next time, I’ll know better. But, if you wanted to pay by July 31st, I wouldn’t complain!!

Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers.

In Christ,

gmb
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