The positive side of social media has been the access to connections from the past that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. FB has helped me reconnect with the exuberant and candid spirit who is Jerome Parker Cronin. We knew each other through church and Tower Hill summer camp. We share many memories of our families who have now passed on. I am inspired by his artist soul.
Jerry’s sister, Patti M. Cronin, passed away this past week. When I was in grade school, Patti and I would play together while waiting for our parents who had bell choir rehearsal on Sunday afternoons. We both had strong personalities and often clashed. Patti and I also went to Tower Hill Church Camp. Next to my theater tribe, church camp was the one place I was accepted socially. Unfortunately Patti was not. I remember being invited to hang with the “cool” kids under one condition; Patti wasn’t included. I chose to stay with Patti. I was sad about the choice but it felt like the right thing to do. I remember distinctly that Patti was not appreciative of my “sacrifice” and we clashed even worse than usual.
Patti and I lost touch but also reconnected on FB for a short while until she picked a major fight with a sweet friend of mine. I made the mistake of messaging her and asking her to take it down a notch. I was swiftly unfriended and blocked. Note to self, messaging concerns rarely works.
Last week, Patti was having trouble breathing, went to lay down, and didn’t wake up. I saw that she wrote the following under her public profile yesterday.
This made me really think about some of the concepts I have learned from the behaviorists at my school (the people who need the most love, often ask for it in the most unloving ways & be kind, you never know what someone is going through.)
While these words are helpful, my human doesn’t always comply. No Dead Man Walking Sister Helen PreJean here seeing the face of God in the troubled….I’m just a bozo on the bus trying to do life…..
So all this to say, RIP Patti.
Emotions never cease to be complicated.
#akintsucrooner
akintsucrooner 