2 WISE WOMEN,
1 WISE MAN
[The title for my Christmas Story for 2011 is, “2 Wise Women, 1 Wise Man.” Every Christmas I write a Christmas story in memory of Father John Duffy who died Christmas Eve 1993 - and who wrote a Christmas story for his niece every Christmas. I typed out a few of them for him. Hearing about his death that Christmas Eve while sitting down to write a sermon - I decided on writing a Christmas story - in his memory - instead - and I’ve been doing that every Christmas since. This year’s story # 19 - is entitled, “2 Wise Women, 1 Wise Man.”]
You never know what’s going on behind closed doors - as you drive down any street - any road - any avenue - in any city, town or village - across our world - any day - let alone Christmas Day. You never know what a group at any table at any restaurant around our world are toasting, if you’re sitting there at another table and they lift their glasses. “You can only imagine” as the song goes. “You can only imagine.”
Once upon a time, there was this couple named Maria and Jose - and they lived in San Antonio, Texas - both born in the good old USA.
Jose’ dad was a shepherd - who had drifted over the border from Mexico a long time ago - finding work as a shepherd on the Edwards Plateau in Texas. I believe this was in the 1920’s. Then when things got tough - he moved to San Antonio and took any job he could get. He married Serena - and they raised 6 kids - the youngest being Jose - who at 25 married a woman named Maria.
Jose and Maria were not blessed with children. They tried and tried - hoped and hoped - but they had no luck in bringing children into this world. This was painful because their many brothers and sisters had many kids - and they knew that the gift of a child - was the gift of a lifetime. Wasn’t that at the heart of the Christmas story? God knows us very well. He came in the birth of a child. So Christmas, especially Christmas, was one tough moment for Jose and Maria.
At the age of 30, they decided on adopting kids. This all takes place back in the early 1950’s. Adoption wasn’t as difficult and as expensive as it is now. They adopted two girls and a boy - each very different from each other. Chad, the boy - was from French Equatorial Africa - now called Congo. Susan, a Navajo girl, was from New Mexico. And Toki, the other girl, was from Japan. As I said, these 3 kids came from very different backgrounds. We’ll leave the story on how they found these 3 kids to another story.
Schools in San Antonio were okay. Actually, with these 3, it didn’t make much difference because these 3 kids were sponges for knowledge. Their parents, Maria and Jose, had the wisdom to let them learn - challenging them with their homework as well as bringing them to the library every Saturday - helping them lug at least 10 books home each week.
These 3 kids grew in wisdom, age and grace, as the Bible puts it.
And you might not believe this, but one went to Princeton, one to Georgetown, one to Notre Dame. None went for sports. All went for knowledge and for the future.
One went to work for the World Bank in Europe. One went to work in the Foreign Service of our country - serving in Korea, Taiwan and Cambodia. The third, Susan, the Navajo from New Mexico, after graduating from Princeton with honors - went and became a nun. This brought great joy to her parents - who were devout Catholics all their lives. She ended up teaching and then doing social work with Native Americans in Washington State, Arizona, New Mexico and then doing advocacy work for Native Americans in Washington D.C.
Time went on. Toki and Chad had wonderful marriages - marrying someone they met in their field. Both had families of 5 kids each - all of whom flourished. Family pictures that came in the mail every Christmas went on refrigerator doors of relatives and friends and stayed for quite a while. Obviously they stayed on mom and dad’s refrigerator door all year long. These grand kids had great facial features - great mixes of DNA. Whatever it takes to form beautiful textures in our looks - these 5 kids from Toki and her husband, these 5 kids from Chad and his wife got them.
Some not so good news…. Living at great distances - scattered all around the world - holding important jobs - being very busy - they were not able - unlike so many families - to get together as a family for Christmas and Thanksgiving with mom and dad - Jose and Maria.
Yet, Maria and Jose would see their 3 kids and Toki and Chad’s kids - but never all together. That was a sword that cut into their hearts at times. Hearing about the work their 3 kids were doing - and what their grand kids were up to - in various places around the world - made up for that at times. However, Christmas could be tough - because they knew what Christmas could be like when all the family were together as they experienced it when their mom and dad were alive.
Their 3 kids of course did get back - in time - for their parents funerals: dad in 1973 and mom in 1979. Toki - was almost late for her mom’s funeral. She had to take 3 different planes to get back home to San Antonio from Cambodia.
Toki and Chad retired in the early 1990’s. Both settled back home in the States. Susan, Sister Susan, was still working in Washington D.C. She jokingly said she had become a Redskins fan - especially in their better years. Toki and Chad’s kids were off and running - college - marriage - interesting jobs - and like their parents, they too were making starting to make a difference in different parts of our world.
Now here is where the story gets wonderful - and why I loved this story as I heard it the first place.
In the year 2000 Toki and Chad - remember both were retired - were talking to each other on the phone - one from New York and the other from St. Paul, Minnesota. They were talking about their mom and dad. “You know, we’ve been busy all our lives - working, working, working - as parents and public servants. You know, we never really sat down and talked to each other as adults about our roots.”
Then one of them said - looking back, they are not sure which one actually said this, “Why don’t we get together and do just that. Let’s call Susan to see if she thinks the same.”
So they called Susan and all 3 decided to meet in San Antonio for their first Christmas together in at least 40 years. They picked Christmas, because Christmas is a get-together day for all of us - especially family. They picked Christmas because down deep they knew this is where it all begins for those of us who are Christians and Catholics. The crib is where we come from as Christians. It begins with a baby.
Then came the question: just us or with our kids as well?
With Toki and Chad’s kids scattered all over the place - with cost and logistics, they decided they wanted to do this upcoming Christmas with just us. So it would be Sister Susan by herself, Toki with her husband from Minnesota and Chad with his wife from New York. It sounded a bit selfish at first, so they told their kids that we’ll get together for Thanksgiving as usual. They added, “We need to get together in San Antonio to do something that was long overdue.”
Toki checked the Internet and found a good hotel in San Antonio and booked it for 3 rooms for Christmas 2000 - 3 days and 3 nights.
“What are we going to do? What are we going to talk about for 3 days?” These were the questions that intrigued them a bit for the next few months before Christmas.
When they got to San Antonio and began their talking, they laughed, because it was no problem. They talked and talked and talked. They went looking for their old homes - two of them. One was still standing. They rang that bell and told the family who lived there, that they lived there way bay. They were welcomed in and stories began flowing. They went to their old church. It was still standing - still going full steam ahead. They also went searching for their old schools. Both grammar and high school were long gone. They rented a big car and took a four and a half hour drive one day to the Edwards Plateau - where their grandfather who came from Mexico to work as a shepherd in the 1920’s first worked.
All through this, Toki and Chad’s spouses were very quiet - but were enjoying hearing all the stories.
On the way back from Edwards Plateau the light went on for what these 3 people on this planet were going to do for Christmas for the next bunch of years.
Someone said, “Hello! We’re adopted.”
Silence.
Sometimes the obvious brings the most silence.
“What about where we come from?”
Of course they had thought about this many times - but never had time to really check it out. So the plan was to check out their stories and then travel to their roots.
They were going to spend Christmas in Japan where Toki came from. They were going to spend Christmas at a reservation in New Mexico where Sister Susan came from. They were going to spend Christmas in the Congo where Chad came from. They were going to spend time in Mexico where their grandfather came from and Oklahoma City where their grandmother had come from. They were going to spend time in Corpus Christi, Texas where their mom, Maria had originally come from - and on and on and on.
And this they did. They had been too busy all these years to follow their own star - only guiding others to find their stars and their destinations. They finally got the wisdom to sit at the roots of their other trees. Each Christmas from 2000 on till today - they found wonderful Christmas gifts under their different family trees - ready to be unwrapped and shared with each other.
You should see the face book pictures and entries and the e-mail stories they sent their children and grand kids and friends from all these fascinating places - they visited - the places where they came from.
Almost finished this story ….
One small ritual - one small ritual every Christmas night - from these three - Chad, Toki and Susan - whether it was in Japan or Mexico, the Congo or New Mexico - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma or Corpus Christi, Texas, they raised their glasses at every meal - at least twice and toasted, “To mom and dad, Jose and Maria, thank you for the gift of life - thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for the gift of family. Amen!”
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Painting on top: The Journey of the Magi, c. 1435, by Stefano di Giovanni [Sassetta], Sienese.This story is total imagination - translation - nothing is true - except the reality of places like Edwards Plateau in Texas - 238 miles from San Antonio.
