Mcdoanld’s after Sunday Mass
Thanksgiving’s Were Specail
Money
Sunday Mass — McDonalds
Sunday Mass – Connie and I switch from the Sunday evening mass to the Sunday morning Mass in the late 90s. Sometime in the early 2000s maybe 2002 or 2003, we started going to McDonald’s after mass with Randy and Marty. Every now and then some other people would join us. Randy and Marty moved away in 2006 and then Brett and Valerie took their place. It’s something we did every Sunday. By 2008 we had several other people to join us we usually had 6 to 8 people and sometimes 10.
They opened a new McDonalds, much nearer the church around 2009 and we started going there. This continues up till Connie’s transition. I continue to go until about 2019 when a bunch of us got together to go out for a full breakfast. Now we have between 8 and 12 every Sunday.
I so miss the tradition of going to McDonald’s because Connie and I would get something lite and then we always went and got a nice meal on Sunday afternoon. I miss them so much and remember all the good times we had. While breakfast is still fun, I miss our meals out on Sunday afternoons with Connie. Even after 7 years, I still think about it almost every Sunday. I miss you so much, Connie.
Thanksgiving at the Brier’s
Thanksgiving – This is a tradition that meant a lot to Connie and I and we both enjoyed it so much. This tradition started around 2004 and It was Connie and I favorite tradition. Around 2004 we started celebrating Thanksgiving day with our good friends Dave and Lizzie Brier. I think we went there every year except for 2005 when we all had Thanksgiving at the club where Connie and I lived. Thanksgivings were so much fun at their place. Almost every year Lizzie’s youngest sister Lolli, her husband Matt, and their two kids Jacob and Maddie came. Every now and then we would have some others there.
Around 2008 or 2009 we started playing Trivia. It was a lot of fun and we would modify the rules a little bit every year. Eventually, in 2011, we started giving trophies to the first-place team. We would usually draw for partners as there would be two to a team, so every year you ended up with a different partner.
Lizzie is such a good cook and the dinners were always special. Connie would bring a corn casserole which somewhere along the line got renamed the coyote casserole. Connie would tease Lizzie that after we left, they would put her casserole out back for the coyote.
We always had another game we would play after dinner, it varied from time to time but it always brought a lot of laughter to the house.
Oh how much Connie, and I enjoyed those Thanksgiving dinners at Dave and Lizzies.
Money
Money – When Connie returned from Germany in 1968, she arrive back in New York with only 15 cents. Thank goodness phone calls were only a dime, so she had enough money to call her brother to come and pick her up. Since then she always like to have cash on hand.
Sometime in the 80s, I would get her some ah from the credit union. I would usually get $300 to $500 in $20 or $10. Did this 3 or 4 times a year. I would then take the and hid them in the house. They were easily found as they would be on the kitchen table, the kitchen countertops, the bed, the dresser on the bathroom countertop, and places where she could easily find them. Never placed any of them on the stove because she would not have found them (that is a joke and those who know Connie will get it).
I do not know why this was so much fun for the both of us but it was. After she found the money she had a special place she would keep it.
To this day, I will still draw some cash out and keep it in the same place Connie kept it. I use it to tip handyman or people who do work around the house and to tip for valet parking at all my treatments, and other things.