November 2001 Updates on
Mary Beth's
Journey
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Today on the Feast of All Saints I did a lot of praying to our own saint Mary Beth. During mass, father spoke of the tradition of depicting holy people with halos. He spoke of the atheist photographer whose crew shot pictures of Mother Theresa in light so dim he was certain they would never turn out. When developed, the pictures were full of radiant light and thus began the photographer's quest of conversion to Catholicism. Father reminded us that Jesus said we are the light of the world and we should our light shine upon all. I like to think this is where the halo depiction came from. Go out each day and let your halo shine as you spread your light to all, especially those less fortunate than you. God bless you, Gerry Historically I have attended mass on the Feast of All Saints but have not been that faithful in attending mass on the Feast of All Souls (today) since my childhood. That will definitely change from this point forward. We had the honor of attending memorial masses today at the Cathedral Basilica and at Our Lady of the Pillar for Mary Beth and all our faithfully departed. The services were wonderful and were sparsely attended. By looking around, most of the handful of attendees were family members of those who have died in the past year. After a day like today, my sinuses will be clear for a long time thanks to a flushing of the tear ducts. The tears were the most prevalent when Mary Beth's name was read at Pillar and when we saw her name written in the book of life at the Cathedral. The last mass I attended at the Cathedral was Mary Beth's funeral mass so I took a moment during communion today to reflect on the beauty of that celebration of her life. The warmth shown by all on such a cold winter day remains one of my fondest memories. God bless you, Gerry Our friends from KC, the Wilsons, have arrived in Seattle. From the postings on Erin's website site, they are all enjoying themselves so far. As I reflect on the anticipation of Mary Beth's stem cell transplant and think back on it, one thing sticks in my mind. That one thing is the most powerful experience one could have - the prayers of so many people! Please keep Erin, her sisters Rachel and Emily and her parents Bret and Christy in your prayers in the coming days leading up to and after her transplant on November 21. Please check out Erin's website, www.erinandrawilson.com. Feel free to email them from the site to let them know you are there for them. God bless you, Gerry A couple of weeks before Mary Beth left us, she decided to no longer sleep in her own bed because of its second floor location. The piggy back rides were too strenuous on her body and she felt comfortable sleeping on the first floor in the living room by the roaring fire. Her bed was slept in again this weekend as it has been each time her best friend from KC visits. Elizabeth Gelpi spent the weekend in Saint Louis visiting her brother Mike at Saint Louis University and spending time with us, her second family. It is always great to see her and spend time with her witty sense of humor. She is very much like MB in that regard and you must keep on your toes to keep pace. The time always seems to run short for these visits but we seem to make the most of it. God bless you, Gerry I just finished conversations with my brother Ken and sister in law Linda regarding their oldest son Clayton. He is about a month away from his second birthday and since birth has had a heart condition named Persistent Junctional Reciprocating Tachacardia. As you may recall, Clayton was scheduled to undergo RF Catheter Ablation one week from today at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth to correct his abnormal heart beat. He and Linda are in Fort Worth to prepare for his procedure. Upon examination by his specialist today it was determined that his heart is too weak to perform the ablation next week without seeking alternatives. He will be administered an antiarrhythmic medication named Flecainade to determine if drug therapy can normalize his heart rate. If this drug is successful, Clayton will continue its use until his heart can grow prior to an ablation procedure in the future. If he does not properly respond to this medication, the ablation procedure will be performed in the coming days. The goal in this overall change of plans is to minimize risk is treating him. Please keep Clayton, Ken, Linda, and his little brother Jacob in your prayers for success in his treatment. You may also pray through Mary Beth's intercession since she pleaded in her final days with our Lord to provide her cousin Clayton with a long healthy life since he was calling her home soon. May we all have the opportunity to enjoy their healthy company when we visit Kansas over the coming Thanksgiving holiday. God bless you, Gerry Well, I made it through another memorial mass for Mary Beth and all the faithfully departed this evening as Sheila and I attended mass in the chapel at St Joseph's Academy. As with the previous two All Souls masses, my handkerchief was soaking by the time Father bestowed the final blessing. One of the true highlights for us was seeing Mary Beth's friend Lauren Reiss singing during mass and receiving a hug from her during the sign of peace. Mary Beth and Lauren bonded the minute they met at orientation prior to the school year last year. Mary Beth heard Lauren sing and told her that she should join the choir. Lauren is singing her heart out for St Joe and is a member of the prestigious Frontenac Voices. Thanks Lauren and all the Angels, faculty and administration for sharing the evening of remembrance with us. God bless you, Gerry It is always nice to sit and discuss with the teachers of our children their progress. It appears from all accounts that Heidi is blazing a trail of her own as the sole Ricken this year at Our Lady of the Pillar School. Sheila and I had the opportunity to speak with her teachers this evening at parent teacher conferences. It is great to see how the girls have emerged as leaders during their seventh and eighth grade years and Heidi is no exception. We are very proud of her success and accomplishments as she has overcome so much adversity in her life. God bless you, Gerry One year ago this week Mission Week commenced at St Joe just as this year's version started today. This is a week long of projects (primarily service) performed by the students to raise funds specifically for the missions in Peru. Last year Mary Beth was so excited to attend because it marked the first time she could go to school after her stem cell transplant. She participated in several activities that week which raised $57,000 for the missions. Barbie is very excited this year as well to experience the feeling of working with her fellow angels for this cause. The fun has just begun. God bless you, Gerry It was just two short years ago this very instant when we were gathered with friends and family in the waiting room at Children's Hospital awaiting word from Dr. Park regarding the success of Mary Beth's first brain surgery after her diagnosis that evening. That day ranks as one of the worst days of our lives and came to mind several times today. I found myself in tears frequently this morning as I recalled the events of November 9, 1999. After I spoke to Mary Beth during noon mass, I smiled the remainder of the day. I know she was smiling too as she saw Barbie participate in Mission Week events and Heidi attend the first 7th and 8th grade St Joe mixer hosted by the senior class. God bless you, Gerry It was a very rewarding day for Heidi as her hard work preparing for her humorous piece at today's speech meet. She was wearing her St Joe Mission Week sweatshirt and her purple ribbon for support. She walked away with a blue ribbon and the Pillar team faired very well with all participants either being awarded red or blue ribbons. I saw Barbie for about 5 minutes today as she swept in and out of the house from one Mission Week event to another. William is just soaking it all in and can not wait until he is in kindergarten next year. God bless you, Gerry Sometimes you have the opportunity to experience something very special that creates a lifelong memory. Last night Heidi and I experienced such a moment. The homily given by our visiting priest during the 5:00 pm mass was centered on the faith of one person he had spoken with during the course of the past couple of years. He spoke of the deep spiritual faith of the mother of a girl afflicted by a rare disease, about the mother's hope for a complete recovery, and about her firm belief that her daughter was with Jesus after she succumbed to this disease. As he spoke his words, I immediately welled up with a flood of tears. Heidi held my hand and squeezed it to provide me with strength. We both knew immediately that we were hearing Father speak about the spiritual leader of our own family - Sheila. We are truly blessed to have such leadership. As you ask for God's blessings in your prayers, please pray for my mom, Dolores Ricken, who was admitted to St Francis Hospital in Wichita after experiencing chest pain. This fall she had a relapse of her microscopic polyangiitis and today's episode may be directly related to her condition. Tests and time will tell. God bless you, Gerry William had the opportunity to play big brother to his cousin Nate again this evening as Nate is spending the night with us. The most fun adventure they had was to line up every cushion from the chairs and couches in the living room across the living room, through the foyer and into the dining room. They used this long line of padding as their own tumbling mat. I am tired just thinking about how long the ran, jumped and rolled on these cushions. It is amazing to see how Nate is transitioning from a little baby cousin to a full fledged independent kid. He loves hanging out with Will and doing everything his older cousin attempts. The laughter from both of them was contagious. God bless you, Gerry One year ago, Mary Beth was recovering from her stem cell transplant and was attending school. The transplant was a challenging time in our lives as she was isolated from the outside world aside from four daily visitors. We were very fortunate, however, to have an outstanding transplant center in our own community in which MB could be treated so we were not displaced from our home. Our Kansas City friend Erin Wilson started her conditioning phase of her transplant today in Seattle which involves radiation treatments as well as high-dose chemotherapy. The next several weeks will be very challenging for Erin and her mom Christy in Seattle as well as her sisters Rachel and Emily and her dad Bret in KC. Please keep them in your hearts and prayers. To check on Erin's progress, click here. God bless you, Gerry While en-route to Minneapolis yesterday, I received a welcomed phone call from my mom informing me that she was out of the hospital and back home. Her chest pain was directly related to the steroid medication she is taking and is not a reflection of damage to her heart or lungs as was initially feared. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for her. I am sure we will soon experience some cold weather. I was certain it would be cooler in Minneapolis in mid-November but I had the air conditioner running in the car today as it approached 70 and was humid. We are ready to start the fireplace rolling and enjoy some hot chocolate after sledding the hills of Chaminade just as we have the past several years with our true winter lover Mary Beth. God bless you, Gerry Another Mission Week ended at St Joseph's Academy, another success story. The Angels of St Joe raised in excess of $68,000 for the missions in Peru during the past week of activities which concluded with the annual carnival this evening. The carnival was truly a success if you ask William. You will have to wait until tomorrow because he was fast asleep by 8:30 with his head on my shoulder as the gymnasium was filled with several hundred screaming voices of excitement. His supply of cars, books, horses and stuffed animals was increased with his skill at the various games this evening. You can never have too many things to leave in the middle of your floor for Dad to find when he is barefooted. God bless you, Gerry Fun was the order of the evening as we hosted the annual Help Me Jesus Barbeque at our home this evening. This event includes all the families of our wives' prayer group when they leave town for the weekend. It is aptly named because each time they leave us, we dads ask for help in attempting to fill their shoes. This year's annual shopping weekend took them to Kansas City, our former hometown for 15 years. We all had a great time and Barbie and her friends even hung out for a while before departing for a party. God bless you, Gerry The weather today was like a beautiful spring day as I watched the 6th and 7th grade CYC South Central district championship games at Chaminade. As a CYC representative, I had the pleasure of handing out the player medals to both teams and the trophy to the winner. While doing so, I was reminded of some of the best times of my life when I coached Mary Beth, Barbie and Heidi's soccer teams over the course of the past nine years. The venue today was in dramatic contrast of some of the playoff games we had. Mary Beth's team won a night playoff game by breaking a scoreless tie about 10 minutes into the first overtime on a corner kick when the wind-chill was about 20 below zero. Both teams congratulated each other as we all ran to our cars to thaw out. That was nothing like the 75 and sunny playing conditions of today. The girls had a lot of fun playing back then and we had some success by qualifying for city-county playoffs two years running. After my one year hiatus from coaching this year, another nine year stint begins next fall with William. More memories to create. God bless you, Gerry Tomorrow morning at 7:00 am, our nephew Clayton will undergo RF Catheter Ablation at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth to correct his abnormal heart condition. Please say a prayer for him tonight as well as for all children in hospitals across the world who are in need of our prayers. God bless you, Gerry I am happy to report that our collective prayers have been answered for our nephew Clayton. He was a brave little trouper today as he received the ablation procedure on his heart today. After it was performed his physician, Dr. Case spoke to us about the success of the procedure. He is in normal heart rhythm for the first time in his short life of 23 months! It is truly amazing to see what miracles occur in the field of medicine. We believe we witnessed one today. Dr. Case said that Clayton could go home tomorrow, just 24 hours after having his heart operated on. Clayton and his family will stay through until Wednesday then meet our family in Garden Plain, KS for the Thanksgiving holiday. It truly will be a blessed Thanksgiving for our family. One of our thanksgiving blessings are all of you have prayed for this result. Thank you and thank you Mary Beth for being your little cousin's guardian angel today. God bless you, Gerry Happy Birthday Sheila and Gerilyn! Please say a prayer for Erin Wilson today. She is to receive her stem cells today but has been waiting all day for them to arrive in Seattle. They are scheduled to arrive at about 11:30 pm Pacific time, so it has been a long day for her. We pray that our collective prayers will result in success. God bless you, Gerry
We recently became aware of a young lady named Emily Weiss who has been recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She is 15 years old and is attending Ladue High School in St Louis. Please add Emily to your prayer list.
We arrived in Garden Plain, KS as a family for the first time since last December when Mary Beth made her last trip here. As we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow we will give thanks for the blessings of this year, which include all of the support we received from all of you. Thank you and may God bless you, Gerry
Happy Thanksgiving! God bless you, Gerry
We continued our family tradition of frying turkeys on Thanksgiving then having a lobster boil on Friday. It is so nice to spend time with family when you do not have the opportunity to see them that often. Times like this make us realize just how fortunate and blessed we are. Tonight was filled with laughter and story telling, especially by Grandma Willie and one of favorite aunts - Louise. Between the two of them, it is difficult to determine whether the pain in our stomachs is attributable to eating too much or laughing too much! God bless you, Gerry
We had the opportunity to see the wide eyes of our 5 year old William tonight as he saw the thousands of Christmas lights of the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. He was fascinated with the lights and the horse drawn carriages. Seeing this sight truly moves one to reflect on the coming celebration of Christ's birth. The cold front that passed through today is also a reminder that we are approaching December. William is really enjoying the holidays so far because he has spent time with his cousins and had his picture taken with a real reindeer. God bless you, Gerry
On the way home today, Will stated several different times that he wanted real horses for Christmas. This has been on his mind a lot recently and he wanted to build some stables in our yard today to house them. In addition to stables, he requested that I help him build a pig pen for live pigs as well. His interest in animal husbandry intensifies with each visit to south central Kansas. By the time we were unpacking our bags, I had negotiated with him to build a new corral for his horse collection. We made one of wooden shish kabob sticks and it is two by three feet with two beams supported by cross posts. I thought this would alleviate his desire for the real thing. As soon as we tested it out on his bedroom floor, he looked at me and asked when we were starting on the stable. Mom was quick with a bedtime story diversion to save me from the answer! God bless you, Gerry
Great news was received by our family today. After a three week stay in Fort Worth's Cook Children's Hospital and the nearby Ronald McDonald House, our nephew Clayton in on his way home. He has been in normal heart rhythm for an entire week now and was released to go home today after seen by his specialists. The accommodations and people at the hospital and the Ronald McDonald House were great, but since Clayton lives in Kansas, he can truly say, "There's no place like home!" God bless you, Gerry
The further away from September 11th we get, it seems as though more and more people are traveling. While awaiting a flight to Hartford tonight, I heard the gate agents announce that the flight to Kansas City was oversold and they were asking for volunteers for the next flight. Even though someone's schedule was disrupted by this, I found it to be a very positive thing. People are no longer scared to get back in the air. If you are having feelings of being afraid of flying, anthrax, or other terrorist threats, please consider living Mary Beth's motto just as she did, "Life is short, laugh hard!" God bless you, Gerry
I did something today that I will never have the opportunity to do again. I flew on a TWA flight for the last time. Friday is the last day this airline will fly after 75 plus years of service to the business and vacation traveler. Once a very strong company, it faced too many hardships to survive. The next flight from our hub city will be under the American Airlines logo. I guess all good things eventually come to an end. God bless you, Gerry
Today was a perfect day to stand at the cemetery with beads in hand and prayer the rosary at Mary Beth's grave. It was perfect because the ground was wet making it easy to put fresh flowers there for MB, Aunt Joanie and Aunt Mary Beth. Also crying in the rain is great because your coat is getting wet anyway. I saw Mary Beth's new tombstone for the first time today and smiled. Sheila designed it with Aunt Mary Beth's name on top, MB's name on the bottom and MB's angel in the center of it. It is worth the trip and it will give you an opportunity to ask this angel for a few favors.
God bless you, Gerry
William was assisting in putting up the Christmas decor this evening when I mentioned to him that it would be difficult to perform the task at hand. He looked at me and said, "Don't worry Dad, where there's a will, there's a way. And I'm Will!" We had no problems the rest of the night. When you face your next obstacle, think of our 5 year-old's philosophy and overcome it.
God bless you, Gerry
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