Gone Wishing, Instead of Just Fishing

A letter to my family, February 4
Dear Family,
I learned something to make me happy this week about a Saint named Pio. He was The only priest in Catholic history to bear the Stigmata, the five wounds of Jesus crucified. Padre Pio lived in a town named Pietralcina, where he was born with the name Francesco Forgione. On September 7, 1910, while at prayer in Piana Romana, he received the invisible Stigmata. On September 20, 1918, while at prayer in San Giovanne Rotrondo, he received the visible Stigmata. Padre Pio was Canonized a Saint in 2002. You can learn more about him at www.padrepio.com or in a google search. Ralph D'Aloia and Francesco Forgione were both born in 1887 and each lived to be 82 years old.I learned about Padre Pio in a prayer book given to me by a friend who I work with named Theresa, named after St. Theresa of Lisieux. Anyway I was reading some of the prayers in this small book and got to wondering just where in Italy this town was. A quick search and I discovered that Pietralcina was very close to Fragnito Mon Forte, where our Grandparents came from. This is a beautiful area east of Naples in the Provincia de Benevento. It is a Mountainous area and very beautiful. The villages were only about 10 or 12 miles apart and as Padre Pio was close in age to Grandpa and Grandma Deloia, I am convinced that they must have crossed paths a few times on their walks on the country trails.
Interestingly, I also learned that the Shrine to St. Padre Pio in the region of Italy known as Puglia is the second most visited shrine in the world with about seven million pilgrims per year. Linda and I drove near there about 10 years ago, but we did not know about it then. By the way, everything in Italy is beautiful.
I was told to keep tract of some of the positive experiences each day and struck me as the most interesting and comforting of the week. It was a good week anyway and I've been feeling good. The chemo is not so toxic, but it does have some side effects that are a little bothersome. They are usually gone by the Wednesday after the week of therapy. I take a 2 mile walk each day after work and it helps me think a little straighter. Actually my work has been a joy and I feel really my best when I'm there. My coworkers have been so nice to me and I'd like to think that I can stay involved for some time yet.
February 8
Today I took Sammy to work with me as Linda is on a vacation with her friends. The people in my office and some of the patients as well were truly enamored with her immediately. She has developed quite the personality lately. She didn't want to come home with me so I'll have to bring her in again tomorrow. Sammy was fairly quiet until we visited Allison's family and the kids played with her. Now, I no longer have to worry about this dog's drive and ability to learn.  

Minnesota Grapes 2011

We wish there would be some snow. What is the sense of living up here if it isn't winter. Gary

Black Labrador Retriever

mendacium jocosum

It seems that the hardest thing about getting a new dog is to agree on a name. On Saturday morning Linda and I traveled to Ely to see Margo and Al Penke and their litter of puppies. They were of course all very beautiful specimens of the Labrador Retriever so we narrowed it down to Black only. The yellows in the bunch were spectacularly good looking and active so the urge came over me to get two pups, but fortunately we settled on a great little pup that looks you directly in the eye. There are a lot of theories on how to pick a dog but according to James Lamb Free, a great trainer of my dad's era, you might as well shut your eyes and grab one.
Now as we drove home with the new addition we started to discuss a name for this pooch. Linda said that anything I would choose would be OK. So I settled on George. After 10 miles of silence she said "George"? "Why not," I countered. Well, we decided to call our grandsons Tommy and Erik for their opinion. They said they could help out and asked what were the guidelines for a name. I just said it should be an androgynous name. Tommy said "I've got it because in my class we have a boy named Sam and a girl named Sam." So there it is; our new puppy is called Sam or Sammy depending on her behavior.
The truth is that having such a beautiful animal in our house brings a lot of comfort and a certain measure of peace. Dogs must be one of God's finest creations, just look at the pictures of this little future working dog and companion.
Linda and I are doing alright and wishing for a little snow.
I hear the "Call of the Wild". Gary

Kimber and Joel visit Duluth

Kimber and Joel spent a long weekend in Minnesota having visited Allison, Tim and family, then to Cambridge to visit Grandma and Grandpa Laase and then of course to Duluth where they visited Grandma and Grandpa DeLoia before coming out to see us. We went out to dinner the first night, otherwise we ate very well at the kitchen of Linda. We were all feeling good so we went hiking up at Gooseberry State Park because there is not enough snow for snowshoeing. The weather has been still very warm for this time of year. We even watched some football as you might guess.

40 Years of Dental Practice

Tuesday at noon three of us celebrated being in dental practice together for 40 years. I joined Bob Ryan in his office in 1972. We were on Superior Street in those days and Ginny DeRoche Randolph was my first dental assistant. My Sister Betsy recommended Ginny as they worked together at the Target Store which was not in the middle of a mall. Bob and I had gone to school together at the U of M, but we barely knew each other as we had to always do everything in alphabetical order. We found out that we shared birthdays and clothes sizes and even could trade shoes. Mainly we shared a value system about how to treat people and how to do a proper diagnosis and treatment plan. Actually to tell you the truth, Bob had a previous career as a Car salesman and you know that experience has to help in any business. Gen Ryan (Bob's Mom) was our secretary, made the appointments, sent out statements and could even take shorthand. Try that these days. Bob had his assistant and Ginny worked with me from my first day and she and I are to this day very close friends and workmates. Now our office is much larger and we have many more coworkers to interact with and share different tasks, but that same atmosphere of trust and respect still exists. How else could anyone explain such long and wonderful relationships.
As a note, check out the link on the right column about Ginny's son Jake.

I'm feeling good today and especially happy to have Kimber and her close friend Joel come to visit us tomorrow afternoon and for the weekend.
Buon fina settimana, Gary

Telling stories is in my nature

"In order to know who you are, you have to know where you're from". Rebbe Kasovsky, Greater Latvia

For me it is fairly easy to know my own personality because I was lucky enough to know so many relatives as I grew up, and even today I talked to my cousins Craig and Kathy Rafferty. On my Mother's side of the family were Orthodox Jewish Great Grandparents who came to St. Paul in the 1880's probably due to the hostile conditions in Eastern Europe. Their son, Rubin, ran off with my Grandma Lillian, a Protestant  and when they came back from California they had the start of their family, my Aunt Ruth. Rubin's parents were probably not too pleased with his disregard for Jewish protocol, but things worked out very well, as they had a total of 6 daughters who loved them very much. My Mother, Lorraine, is the 4th in line and now 92.

My other grandparents came from Southern Italy to settle in St. Paul about 1915. They lived in a communal  environment called Swede Hollow where my Dad and the rest of the 8 children were born in the home. Obviously my Grandpa was a blue collar worker just like Rick Santorum's but he didn't have "big hands", he just knew how to use them in a productive way. It is from the Italian culture that my life was mostly influenced. Some of it good and some of it less good. They wanted to become American  in every way they could so they worked hard and followed the "rules".  They loved to build, garden, cook, bake, clean, make wine, raise animals and they made things look nice. To them beauty was synonymous with virtue and art. You should do things properly or you'd be considered lazy.

My Grandma, Maria Nazarina Panella D'Aloia

It is my Italian Grandmother that saw to the religious affairs of the family and so it is to her that I owe my Catholic faith. "Sono Catolica Americano". This was passed down to my Dad and my "convert" Mom from Grandma, and for this I am very grateful and proud. I had a very happy and interesting childhood and our Catholic values had a lot to do with our lives then and they still do now.

This act of writing a simple story, arranging memory and thinking about it is for me therapeutic and in my view holy. Today I feel very good and positive thinking goes a long way toward healing.

Your friend, Gary

Gary's Tattoo

Vietnam, 1970-71

Looks like you don't need to get a tattoo afterall Dad. Love, Kimber and Adrianne

Buon Nuovo Anno

Last week I finished my first session of chemotherapy and it didn't seem too bad. I am left with a mild upset stomach and a feeling that I just have too much medicine in me. As in the days when we siphoned gas and swallowed too much by accident. Or when paint fumes got into your system. Really it is not too bad though and I'm better today than yesterday. Now we have to be sure to not catch any germs as my resistance to infections will fall. We are following Kimber's advice and got outside for some exercise each day this weekend. It really feels good and the weather is invigorating. We even went to Target to purchase some walking weights so my arms will stay nice and big. I'm thinking about some tattoos on my biceps just for the athletic charm. Did you see the Vikings?
I visited with my Dad a little today and he said "Tondo benedizioni", which was very appropriate and I say this to all of you taking the time to read this note. Gary

Almost lost snowshoeing near the the river.