Death and other light fare

So yesterday I went to the funeral of Father Gribbon at St. Anastasia's School in Queens. He was the parish priest while I was in grade school (see Peligro Peligro). He wasn't one of those people who got into the priesthood for the wrong reasons. By all accounts this guy was the real deal. He donated all of his spare earnings to help the struggling catholic school he was stationed at; He was always super nice to all of the families, he had no posessions to speak of and he was stationed in the same parish for 36 of his 50 years as a priest. He never had any allegations against him, and he always recounted his personal experince in his preaching bringing in correspondence between his parents to speak about love, or letters from sick children to illustrate hope during the sermons. I am sad at his passing. I didn't think I would be so moved, but I think in a way it tolls the last knell of my childhood. In so many ways I try to hold on to some of the aspects that I have associated with being a child and being vibrant. I cannot deny that the adults around when I was little are now aging rapidly. I am not so much afraid of my own passing as I am afraid that the older I get the more people will pass from my life either because of Death or distance. I have never been very good at keeping the close bonds of friendship over time nor great distance. I get caught up in whatever life I am leading at the time and tend to think my old friends have their own lives to worry about and do not need nor have the time hear from me. So as a result I have less than a handful of friends that have remained my friends through all of the neglect. My family will always be there but they worry me too. They are all terribly unhealthy. Overweight, eating horribly, smoking, drinking. It's all like some Fellini picture. I don't know why I am recounting all of this except to say that whatever my personal beliefs may be I hope that you Reverend John Gribbon find your God seated in heaven just as you believed.