MY MIMI'S REUNION WITH MARY ANN PUJALS.............

Before attending the Funeral yesterday afternoon for Henry Teichert, I had lunch with the Pennington Family at Mimi's Restaurant not far from Cal Expo.  As we arrived I was greeted by another very familiar face,-Mary Ann Pujals, R.N. retired; my Holy Family Parish Citrus Heights parishioner.  Three months after retiring from 45 years of nursing at Mercy General and Mercy San Juan Hospitals, Mary Ann stepped up in the Summer of 2002, to serve as my volunteer nurse, assistance which she wonderfully and faithfully fulfilled twice daily in the months that followed and again in the latter half of 2004, at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Del Paso Heights.  A thoroughly caring, personable, and consummately dedicated nurse, she made addressing my health challenges a friendly and interesting journey of healing, interaction, and discovery, about what it means to be interdependent and not held captive by disease or disability.  Mary Ann warmly clasped my hand and greeted me effusively, as er briefly caught up with one another. Her consistency of spirit and focus for serving the common good of others and the community remains, as demonstrated by the volunteer hours she continues to give to sewing costumes for local theatrical productions - first in Roseville, and now in Davis, Woodland, and Sacramento.  I am blessed to know and have such a loyal and selfless friend as Nurse Mary Ann Pujals.  If more persons were the people Mary Ann, and my fellow lunchers today,  the Pennington Family members are; our parishes and the general community would all be even better places, "to live, move, and have our being in".............Fr.  Troy David