Dennis the Menace Move Over … You Have Competition:  Over the last three weeks, I have shared the moving experiences about the funeral of Evan Battani, a 14 year old member of my extended family.  Even though we shared many tears that week, there were some funny moments as well.
 
One of Rick and Rene’s youngest, Bryson, is a constantly moving “tornado.”  The kid doesn’t stop.  He’s 2 ½ and a man with a mission.  He is constantly in motion at all times.  It’s good thing the Battani house is filled with so many people because it takes an army to keep an eye on this little one.
 
As you can imagine, the funeral visitation for a young person is always packed.  People were coming and going all afternoon at Wujek-Calcaterra Funeral Home on the day of visitation for Evan.  At one point in the afternoon, the line had subsided and there was no one at the casket.  Suddenly little Bryson appeared on the scene; and I mean he just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.  I’m sure one of his many cousins was keeping him busy but then he escaped.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him on the kneeler.  I thought this was going to be one of those touching moments with a little one kneeling at his brother’s casket.  Nope.  The little tornado started to climb the kneeler and was about to crawl into the casket when he was caught and snatched away by a sibling.  Saved.  Just watching him in motion, I learned you have to be pretty quick with this kid.
 
At the cemetery as we were waiting for family and friends to arrive, Bryson was running around everything and everyone.  As I was visiting with people, I caught Bryson out of the corner of my eye hopping over tombstones and under larger monuments that had some hallow space beneath them.  I heard his dad shout, “Grab that kid,” and a sibling swooped in like a hawk and rounded him up.  His siblings are obvious experts in rescuing their little brother.  Saved again.
 
Once Evan’s casket was lowered into the ground, his family took some of the roses and other flowers and started to toss them onto his casket.  It was a picturesque summer day in this beautiful small country cemetery.  The beauty of God’s creation helped lift our spirits as we walked this sad but very grace-filled journey.  Well, little Bryson wasn’t going to be left out of the action.  I could see him working his way around his parents, grandparents and siblings to figure out what was going on.  He was trying to push his way through the crowd and when he wasn’t successful he started to run off in another direction. I happened to be at the right place at that moment and I reached out with my long arm and caught him.  After being with everyone for several days, I was quickly learning how to engage in activity yet keep a razor sharp eye on Bryson.  He finally slowed down for a nano-second.  He walked over to the casket spray and grabbed a rose.  He then walked over to the side of the grave and watched what everyone else was doing.  I could see him wind up his little arm with a rose in hand.  But his momentum was such that I and several others thought he was going to fall in on top of the casket.  “This was not going to be good,” I remember thinking.  His dad and mom were holding onto each other at this point but their massive peripheral “Bryson” vision obviously caught sight of what was about to happen and without blinking an eye Rick rapidly lowered his arm and rescued the little guy from the impending disaster.  Bryson was saved again.  As I got to see little Bryson in action for a number of days, I started to think he must have a ton of Guardian Angels assigned to him.  And, it’s a good thing Guardian Angels fly because Bryson was going to give them a run for their money and keep them busy.
 
Did I miss the CSA?  This is a question some have asked.  Unfortunately, I don’t think I highlighted enough that our CSA was going to be rolled into our annual capital campaign.  Originally, we anticipated the capital campaign getting kicked off in mid to late June, but for a variety of reasons we delayed the start of the campaign until the fall.  In fact, our consultant from Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) met with our Leadership Team this past Thursday to go over the campaign’s timeline and case statement.  I’ll have plenty to share about the capital campaign in the weeks to come, but be assured you didn’t miss the CSA.  Our consultant from OSV encouraged us NOT to have two separate campaigns, one for CSA and then one for the roof and other projects a few weeks later.  After hearing from our campaign consultant, I sought permission from the Archdiocese to roll the CSA into our overall campaign and that permission was granted.  So, stay tuned!
 
Was it hot enough last weekend?  If you were at any of the masses at SJA last weekend, you know we had problems with our air-conditioning in Church.  As the saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.”  We have two compressors that are part of our system.  One compressor was out because of an electrical issue and the other compressor kept overloading and shutting down because it couldn’t keep up with the extreme heat.  When the resets started to happen too frequently, we decided to keep it off rather than risk burning the unit all together.  Unfortunately for us, they don’t make the parts we need for the electrical panel which services the compressors.  We were able to find some refurbished parts but then I asked what it would take to replace the whole panel in question.  We’re still waiting on some estimates before we decide which route to take.  The parts we need without a total replacement cost about $2,500.  If the complete replacement comes in around $15,000 it won’t be “rocket science” to determine we’ll just replace the whole unit.  I was told that the problems we are experiencing will continue to “creep” to other components on that panel because it’s all original equipment.  Yes, it sounds like another project that needs to be added to the capital campaign.  We actually have a study being done right now on all of our HVAC systems across the campus.  Stay tuned!  But if you happen to win the lottery, give me a call.  I’d enjoy helping you figure out what to do with your winnings!
 
Enjoy the week.  Know of my prayers.
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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