Dear Loved Ones,
Pleasant
Greetings from SAC-CA, USA! The heat of summer is here and with it the
excitement of welcoming guests at home, and looking forward to vacation in
Pinas!
On
our SacCatholicForum held at the Woodlake Hotel on May 18, 2012, we had as
speaker Mr. Tom Carroll, CIA agent and Islamic specialist, who spoke on the
topic “Can a Good Spy be a Good Catholic?” He narrated how he was recruited
(utmost confidentiality – no address, new identity), the trainings he underwent
(9 months on languages) with his wife, before they went to their assignment in
Istanbul. Yes, he continued to be a good catholic, since most of his colleagues
were Catholics and Mormons who were committed to be professionals, in the
service for the overall good! (St. Augustine’s philo) In the 90s, Muslims
believed in God, were ardent devotees of the Virgin Mary and respected Papal
Supremacy. He brought to the venue for our appreciation, artifacts from
Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, dating thousands of years. Despite taking great
risks, he enjoyed being a spy, serving the country and God!
On
the 1st weekend, Fr. Bobot Clemen, my neighbor in Panglao, Bohol,
who graduated at UST, then became our parish priest at North Fairview’s Divine Savior
church (1993-2000), came to visit. He is now the parish priest of next parish
Lagro, QC, so the network connection is there. We had dinner with other Panglao
kabayans, nurses I just met, toured and shopped around and at home.
Then Sean’s Claret School
mates RobelRB and Red (both nurses) came to visit. RB is based in Washington DC
while Red is based in Stockton, CA. Fetched by Sean at SAC airport, they
arrived after finale of American Idol, thus interrupting my phone voting for
Jessica Sanchez. The previous week, all my 2-hour 2000 votes for Jess went
through on my AT&T home phones – so amazing! She’s truly talented and her
performances are so beautiful, but I really did not expect her to win. AI
history do not let 16-year olds get the title, remember David Archuleta, he was
so good but didn’t win. Especially since Jessica experienced being in the
bottom 7. To win AI, one should never be in the bottom 2/3. Reality is, AI
voters are a conspiracy white grandmothers, mothers and daughters, so who would
they vote for, naturally ‘white guys with guitars’(wgwg)! From the start,
Philip Philips was a heads-up!
After breakfast the
following day, I hung out with 3 handsome guys at our clubhouse while they went
swimming. Then they showered at our 3 bathrooms; they also had 3 separate
bedrooms, like they were in a hotel! Sean brought them city touring, went to
Jolibee, and then went clubbing till 2:00 AM – splurging their dollars! The next day, I had to wake them up as I
decided to join them go wine-tasting at nearby Charles Spinetta winery. Sean
let me taste their Black Muscat and I liked it! The winery does not distribute
to other outlets so through ‘word of mouth’, customers must come to buy. We
tasted other wine bottles and the winery also had a beautiful Art gallery
(Italian family owned). The 3 guys decided to buy dozen bottles each, like
panic-buying / scarcity mentality ba! Thus Red’s new Acura sedan was fully
loaded. From there, we had lunch at FATS Asian bistro. I kidded RB, he had lost
60 lbs since Claret, and so he is now a tall sophisticated dude. When we went
to USPS to pick up plastic ‘bubble wraps’ for packing RB’s wines, we
encountered a nice lady (an ‘angel’) who gave us a big bundle of ‘bubble wraps’
– right timing! We had so much fun reminiscing the past while Red enjoyed
playing the piano; when they were just content with food at Snack Bar, dalawang
kanin maliit na ulam, those ‘hunger’ days!
On Memorial day week-end,
we went shopping for 4 IPADs (for MAX, Sean, Fr. Bobot who ordered through his
Facebook message, and Jessica) – everyone’s going high-tech!
Other highlights
for the month:
·
On Mother’s day, Sean surprised me with gifts: double hoop 2-tone
earrings and a basket of pink hydrangeas – so very thoughtful!
·
In our Bible study, we are in the middle of Psalms. I was happy to show
my Liturgy of the Hours book which I had used since 1993 (it is said that those
who do divine readings (done by religious) are the ‘brides and warriors of the
church’; I should be in a monastery a long time ago;
·
Books read are: The Three Greatest Prayers by St. Thomas Aquinas, and
Spiritual Development by Fr. Daniel Helminiak.
Movies watched include: For the Greater Glory, The Avengers, The Dark
Shadows ( Johnny Dep).
Attached are 4 photos for
the month. Let us continue to pray for our country and people. Peace and Joy to
You and God Bless Us All!
Much love and Best Regards!!!
SUSAN BG
