Day 366: A Tree For Marie

Patricia here, honored to post the final entry and offer family reflections at the finish.


Who knew that when we started this Service Challenge 365 in 2011 that it was a Leap Year and would end with Day 366 ?!!  So here we are, a full calendar year later, ending this challenge as planned, on what would be Marie’s 52nd birth day.  And as in the case of many journeys, the end can bring us back to the beginning.  We chose to reach back to when we first lost Marie to honor and celebrate her close and heartfelt connection with St. John the Baptist Church and School.  From almost the beginning of Marie’s life with Ron (and later with Meaghan) in Peabody, she was an active member of St. John the Baptist parish.  Marie taught second grade CCD, guiding countless young children through the sacrament of First Communion.  St. John’s church is where Marie’s treasured niece and nephew, Jennifer and Michael, received their sacraments and where her beloved in-laws, Maureen, Bob, Joyce and Mike shared in the Mass and spiritual events of the parish community.  And, not surprisingly, it was where we gathered for Marie's funeral.

                 

 It also came as no great surprise that Meaghan would eventually attend St. John’s School.  Rather, it came as a horrible surprise that Marie would not live long enough to see Meaghan complete kindergarten.  Over the school years that followed, Bianca, Olivia and eventually Sophia,  would join me in an annual visit to Meaghan’s classroom where we would conduct a mini-lesson/project that involved reading and crafting.  Meaghan’s teachers were always so welcoming, supportive and flexible to accommodate our Auntie/Cousin special visits to the school.  We will always treasure these memories that gave us a glimpse of the warm and loving environment that Meaghan was experiencing at St. John’s.

Upon Marie’s death in 2001, her dearest friend in Peabody, (other than her dear and devoted sister-in-law Joyce J) recognized Marie’s love for St. John’s and arranged for an extraordinarily generous gesture of legacy in her honor.  Mary Gauthier, (pictured above with Marie) and her husband Brad, donated a Kousa Dogwood tree that was planted on the grounds of St. John the Baptist School.  A lovely placque dedicates the tree to our Marie F. Bettano.   And perhaps Joyce Kilmer sums up the rest at its best in his Trees poem…….."A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray."  Marie’s tree, like her family and friends, have grown in so many ways…..standing strong, reaching up, branching out, gracefully weathering storms, and most importantly, maintaining deep roots. 

Today, 10 years later, we revisit the growth of that special dogwood tree and treaured friendship with Mary, Brad, Colleen, Kelly and Jimmy Gauthier as we make a little donation in Marie’s memory to St. John the Baptist School in Peabody.  We can’t think of a more fitting entry to conclude our service challenge.  Happy Birthday Marie!! 

              REFLECTIONS

As the powerful lyrics from one of our favorite songs, Seasons of Love, (of the musical  Rent) so aptly share:

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

March 26, 2011 – March 25, 2012 will be the year our team measured life in Service. 

Intended to be a way we all gave to remember, honor and celebrate Marie, the journey became as much about receiving, as giving. It became the year when we were especially humbled, learning that there was a deserving cause in every direction we turned. Some familiar with repeat opportunities to contribute; others new or unnoticed until we “turned up the Giving Radar.”  It was the year the family stayed in touch through a personal journal that shared our outreach experiences.  It was the year that through each others’ guidance, suggestions, actions and love, we managed to stay on schedule and attain our goal. (A little gratitude shout out here to our Rinck-Cutler-Bettano-Capshaw family guest bloggers!)  And now, it is a project that closes with a bittersweet sense of accomplishment.  This blog ends; a life time of giving continues.  We are proud to be Marie’s family and we all feel it is safe to assume that Marie would be proud of us!