The Big Day

When we moved to Florida many of our special- meaning- items were distributed to my children and grandchildren under the disguise of “downsizing”. However there is one item that I would never part with and that is a rosary given to me from the Bishop of Esmeraldo, Ecuador on a special day, my birthday, October 26, 2000. (For those of you not Catholic, a rosary is simply beads that keep track of 50 plus prayers.)

I left Ohio going on a missionary trip selfishly having a pity party for myself because, “Doggone it my children knew that my birthday would happen when I was gone and not even a card was given in advance.” So the big day arrived. We had been traveling all around Ecuador eating the same meal for 7 days – rice and a chicken that had been killed special or us, the guests from North America. We had seen poverty of unbelievable proportions, yet at every stop the host and hostess offered us their home to stay in and prepared for us their best meal of chicken and rice. Always it was the same meal. The chicken was not like American chicken. It had been running around their yard only hours ago and very tough and muscular. By day seven, I could barely swallow it.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to a trip to the “big” city of Esmeraldo to meet the bishop. It was quite an honor there. He was more influential than the 25 crooked politicians in power. We were told it would be a “feast” for us. I was really looking forward to having something other than rice and chicken. What I didn’t know was the bishop had gotten wind of the fact that it was my birthday and even tried to find out how it would have been celebrated in North America. He had a lovely “beef” dinner for me complete wine, cake, and ice cream. Nothing in my whole life every tasted so good! To my surprise, he began a serenade in Spanish on his Spanish guitar, singing “Happy Birthday”. What a beautiful voice! Then he presented me with a rosary blessed by the Pope. “Pray for the people of Ecuador,” he said. Wow! That was the most moving birthday to date that I have ever had. I returned home to faithfully pray the rosary daily for a year straight, fulfilling his request. I still use that rosary now, praying for different people in need. When I do, I always think about the people of Ecuador, the friends I meet, and hope that they are doing alright. Images of the bone-skinny cows I had seen in the villages remain in my head and guilt washes over me for that “beef” dinner.