MIDDLETOWN CARMELITES

We have to wish Aunt Lauren a happy birthday. Yesterday was her big day. The lay Carmelites' Marian day of recollection went really well on Saturday. My father drove me over to Anne's house before 7:00 a.m. She, her daughter Mary Elizabeth & I left for Middletown after a few minutes. we were there by around 8:30 in spite of Uncle Frankie's having absolutely insisted it was at least a two_hour drive. We went on Rtes. 81 & 84. Rte 380 was up there too. Port Jervis is on the way. The weather was really nice. That was only my second time I've ever been to the shrine. I went there once in 1995, around the time Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. I went when Fr. Mike Kissane was vocation director, to see if I should become one of their friars. That's when I first met Fr. Mario Esposito & Fr. Brocard Connors. Fr. Brocard died a few years ago. Fr. Mario was in charge of the day of recollection. Yvonne De Thomas & Judy Knidds showed up from Pa. Theresa, & Jim & Rosemary Lancelotti were there from Middletown. Dianne Massiello was the only one I recognized from the Long Island people. The food was really good & it was very crowded. It's an especially nice place with lots of nice scenery.