Afterthoughts

At the Zichydorf Mass, a woman came in late and sat behind me. She sang with great enthusiasm, but not quite as much talent. Later, we learned her interesting story. I only heard parts of it third hand, but here is my best shot at it. I would judge her to be about 70 years old. Twice a week she rides her bike 60 + km to Vrsac and return to sell eggs and then rides home again. On this day, she had already ridden 12 km from Jermenovci to Plandiste (Zichydorf), heard about the Mass, rode all the way back to change into her best dress, and rode back again. We passed her on our way to the priest’s house in Jermenovci and soon she had joined us there! Quite a lady.

When we got off the bus at the cemetery in Triebswetter, a young boy about 7 years old was standing there in wonderment at this huge bus, almost as if we had arrived on a spaceship from another planet. He was so cute that I pulled out my last Canada lapel pin for him. I was not sure he would know what to do with it, so I pulled the clasp off the back, put the pin through his sleeve, and reattached the clasp. He was just beaming! As we were walking in the cemetery, his friend came running up to me with the original boy in trail. I motioned that I was all out of pins, but I knew that Frank still had a few, so I sent them to him. Later I saw Frank being followed by a gang of six or eight kids that had gathered one every few minutes as the word got around.

Finally, I can’t say enough about the kindness, friendship, and generosity of all the people we met on our trip. They were all genuinely pleased to see us and were constantly offering us food and drink. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Of all the adventures on our trip, these personal moments will remain the most memorable.