Something Simple

Sometimes you can find a hidden jewel in the midst of piles and piles of stuff. So my mom and I started the task of going through small white night stand that has two dresser drawers in my sister's bedroom.
 It was full of all kinds of items and medical paperwork that belonged to my sister Mary Magdalene.

 Some were medical papers were dated as far when Mary was first diagnosed with MS.  Paper trails of all the different companies of In Home Service for Mary; I am so grateful to each of them because they taught me so many valuable lessons in caring for my sister.

However, in the midst of paperwork was a hidden jewel that took both my mom and I by surprise.  We found a small bright yellow plastic box that had three stickers of multicolor fishes and two black and white penguins on the top lid.  In the box we found pictures of Mary’s Grad Night at San Gabriel High School, an old bus pass of my mom when she worked as a MTA bus driver. There were pictures of our family along with pictures of Mary’s friends from high school.  We found a CD case with artist like The Cars, Stone Temple Pilot, Alice In Chains, the Police and cassette of Bryan Adams Cut Like A Knife; she was such a fan of 80’s music.  

 To our surprise we found two certificates, one was of Mary’s First Holy Communion certificate (April 29, 1984), she was just eight years old at the time. 

I remember how lovely my sister looked when she made her First Holy Communion, all dressed in white with the exception of her little black paten shoes.  We went to go eat after the mass to celebrate such a memorable occasion and of course she received presents for the occasion.

Then I found a small beige envelope; it had her Confirmation certificate. I had completely forgot that I was Mary’s sponsor for confirmation until I read the index card with her confirmation name (Alexandria after St. Alexandria) and my name was filled in as the sponsor.  A picture of the Most Re. Carl A. Fisher, S.S.J.,D.D., Titular Bishop of Tlos Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles San Pedro Regional Bishop. Bishop Fisher confirmed my sister on May 5, 1993 and passed away from his battle of cancer in September of 1993.  I can visualize in heaven,  Bishop Fisher walking up to my sister and introducing himself saying,"Hi Mary! Do you remember me?" I could see my sister leeringly looking at him and saying "No." then he would reply, "I'm Bishop Fisher, the one who anointed you at your confirmation mass." I could see Mary's facial expression starting to think as she stares at him, then light up and scream, "OOOHH YEAH!" as she wraps her arms around  him. At that moment, both of them would be talking about the time of when my sister was confirmed at St Stephen's Catholic Church.

I remember during this time of my sister’s two-year confirmation program, the Confirmation Coordinator had invited a special guest come one night to introduce to the teens a positive roll model.  The guest just happened to be Oscar De La Hoya; he brought his gold medal he had won at the 1992 Olympics for boxing.  Mary got to meet him, hold his gold medal and give him a hug.  She was so happy when she came home that night. My family was watching television in the living room. My dad came into the house with Mary; she stood in the middle of the living room and was gleaming with excitement when she said, “You will never guess who I met tonight.” “Who did you meet?” We asked.  “It was OSCAR DE LA HOYA!” screamed Mary. We were all completely shocked as Mary started to waive his autograph she said, “He is so cute! He is so tall and BOY did he smell good!”  “Mary, you met Oscar De La Hoya? That’s great Mija!” said my mom.  Mary smiled then said, “Yeah Mom, I met him and he was so nice to everyone. He is a cutie patutie!”  We still have the autograph from Oscar De La Hoya and it's tucked away in Mary's grey plastic container along with other items that we just couldn't depart with because there are so many memories attached to them. At times when I look at the container, I feel as if I found a treasure chest filled with priceless memories.

Isn’t it extraordinary when you find something so simple that can spark such a domino effect of memories when you least expect it.