Tee-off time was 11 am, so before I drove to Flourtown I wanted to say hello to my newly blooming sweet peas, a gift from the late gardener Mr. Carrell Beame of Hatboro, PA. He came from a long-lived family and was 96 when he died in his own home.
His twin sister Caroline lived down the street and died a few months before he did. She was born first.
Sister Vicki has lived at St Joseph Villa in Flourtown for 2 1/2 yrs. It's a retirement community for nuns but Vicki doesn't want to retire. You'll soon find out why her superiors asked her to retire.
We each complimented each other on looking the same as when we were in the penultimate class at Hahnemann, chaired by the late Mike Vaccaro, MD, and Fabian Ulitsky. I brot Vicki a copy of the Compass in which the fabulous Fabian wrote an article about retiring.
Note the 'wedding ring' on Vicki's finger. She entered convent life two years out of high school and here she is, at age 69, many years later.
She is a Sister of St Joseph,
Her master's degree allowed Vicki to do incredibly important work with troubled boys at
St. Gabriel's Hall in Audubon, PA.
Her clients were those who had committed various sexual crimes, such as child molestation and
frotteurism.
Most of the boys she counseled went on to lead good productive lives.
Vicki would be the first to say, What are nuns doing teaching a class like this?
Vicki chatting with another sister. Everyone loves Sister Vicki, again a Sister of St Joseph, Joseph being the 'stepfather' of Jesus.
From Wiki: There are approximately 14,000 members worldwide: about 7,000 in the United
States; 2,000 in France; and the Sisters are active in fifty other countries.
The food was delicious and I only have a small stain on my shirt to show for it, or praps it's a microphone for my next interview on Sixty Minutes.
I ate crabcakes, cauliflower au gratin, potato salad (two helpings), butternut squash soup, salad with sunflower seeds on top and a hot cup of Decaf.
I'll tell you something. Vicki and I did so much talking.... and listening.... we had so much to catch up on... including why she's in a wheelchair.
Imagine having to cram all your belongings into one small room.
I sat on the bed while Vicki told me about herself, why she became a nun, her maturity when she became a principal, caring for her dying parents while still working. She told me about her twin brother Michael and his adopted son, Michael.
She also talked about a wonderful seminar she took in Rome about sexuality by a noted Jesuit priest she greatly admired.
"I learned so much!" she exclaimed.
We talked about the unfair stigma against gays in the Catholic church and the male patriarchal hierarchy that prevents women from achieving the priesthood.
I brot a short story I'd written - "Intruder on Main Street" - in which a robber burglarizes a beauty salon in Hatboro. One of the characters was inspired by Vicki: the pedicurist who walked with a 'peg leg.'
Two years ago, 2011, the same year as my transplant, Vicki had her leg amputated from the knee down.
It was ineffective to stop the spread of disease due to clogged veins and arteries in her leg, so they went back in and took off the entire leg.
She is still adapting to this horrible tragedy. The person who makes the artificial limb is called a PROS-THE-TIST.
It is b/c of this that the Sisters of St Joseph will not allow her to work. As bad a horror as the removal of the leg. We talked about some alternatives.
"You give me hope," said Vicki. "I expect the worst."
In another year, I believe Vicki will be working in some important capacity.
I loved all the different expressions on her face.
We took a tour around the 7-story building. Here's the computer room.
View of front entrance from Computer Room. In the center of the baseball diamond is a religious statue.
Services are held in the beautiful chapel
Can you see the glass etchings?
Nun waiting to use restroom. One of the few wearing a habit.
Into the garden. "Of Gethsemane?" I asked. Note birdbath in middle on right.
Good friends. Sister Connie Gardner is a retired Latin teacher and visits fellow teacher Sister Ann Marguerite, 95, who taught French at Mount St Joseph Academy right next door.
Sister Ann Marguerite has beautiful blue eyes and no teeth.
Sister Connie spontaneously gave me a bookmark she bought in Spain.
So now I'm reading:
The Wanting by Michael Lavigne -
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron Rash - authors and titles that are impossible to remember. The books are darn good!
In the hallway Vicki and I kvelled over several photos of nuns in different style habits. Other sisters joined us in the appreciation of how the habits got smaller and smaller until they disappeared entirely. When I knew Vicki in school, she never wore one.
I asked Sister Florence if she were a priest. No, she said, I'm a sister of Saint Joseph. I made up for my gaffe by asking what she used to do. Teach, she said. To me, teachers are just about the most important people there are. That and moms.
This is the entrance to St Joseph's Villa. I didn't notice it when I came in. I had gotten so lost I thought I'd never arrive.
Made an emergency stop at my library
where Suzy printed out directions for me.
I checked out an audio book to listen to on the endless drive to see Sister Vicki
Who needs a life of their own? Just read a book and do nuffin.
Vicki has a love-hate relationship with her entire-leg prosthesis.
Hello again, Tony! So nice to see you even though you can't talk.
Scenes off the Internet.
