Day 6: Convergence of the New and the Old: A Day of Encouragement

Statue of St. Francis in garden at the Franciscan Spiritual Center 

Blessing of St. Francis that appears underneath the statue 

I arose Friday morning to the task of eating breakfast, packing up and straightening up my hermitage.  The Sisters ask that you strip your sheets, as well as take out your trash and recycling(they are very ecologically minded furnishing the cottage with dish towels and cloth napkins as well as even toilet paper made from recycled materials).  I finished feeling grateful for my time of rest and now was ready to get onto the Blue Route(476) and face the rush hour traffic.  It seemed strange as I drove to meet Michelle, the second person I was meeting face to face for the first time, to drive on road that was now finished(only part of it had been completed when I left PA for TN in 1994). Arriving at the cafe in Haveford, Michelle greeted me with just as much excitement and enthusiasm.  Enjoying a delicious breakfast, we spent two delightful hours conversing about our faith, our daily lives and how they intersect.  So what prompted me to contact Michelle about meeting together, she is one of the featured authors in the Homilists for the Homeless(see below for more info) and I had used a prayer from her homily in one of my sermons.  She even autographed my book and we took a selfie together. Her wisdom, joy and encouragement were a blessing.

Michelle Franci-Donnay and I 

Du Jour Cafe - Delicious Coffee and Breakfast, if you are ever Haverford

 From Haverford, I drove back roads to my Aunt Marianne's home; enjoying seeing the beautiful old trees and some of the stone houses that still remained in the midst of new stores and office buildings. Aunt Marianne is not my aunt; she is a longtime friend of my Mother's who never married and over the years always remembered my sister and I with holiday cards, postcards from her travels and birthday money.  Even now, she enjoys receiving pictures of our children and still remembers our birthdays with a card.  In spite of being the only remaining member of her immediate family(her brother, father and mother are all deceased) and other complex life issues; she remains steadfast in her faith in Jesus and continues to pray for our family.  So  as I arrived, she hugged me and was exceeding glad to see me.  We enjoyed a wonderful time of visiting and reminiscing over old times.  She even took me out to dinner and to Dairy Queen.  She and my Mother had  met in graduate school at Trenton State in 1967 so this friendship dates from even before I was born.  So of course Aunt Marianne had to pull out the baby pictures, of course I was a cute baby; the funny part was seeing her dressed in the latest fashion of 1972.  We had many laughs over her and my mother's experiences in computer dating as well.  She enjoyed hearing about schooling and my future plans.
What a treat to meet Michelle and spend time with Aunt Marianne on the same day !!

Check out Michelle's blog at: http://mfrancldonnay.blogspot.com/

For information on the Homilists for the Homeless project, visit them on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Homilists

To order their books, visit http://clearfaithpublishing.com/homilies/
The books for Year A and Year C, Naked, and You Clothed Me and Hungry and You Fed Me are both available for immediate purchase and year B's set of homilies: Sick, and You Cared for Me is now available for pre-order.

For more infomation on Du Jour visit: http://www.dujourmarket.com/

The Mainline Suburbs are full of culture and history; I would definitely recommend a visit and suggest also that you consider doing it by train; I always loved riding the train into the city. While it is home to some of the wealthiest people; it is home to many fine colleges, wonderful shopping and many places on the National Historic Register.
http://www.mainlinetoday.com/Main-Line-Today/Neighborhoods/
http://www.septa.org/stations/rail/suburban.html