The Sweeneys and the Drummeys

Story Time...

My mom had a friend in high school named Jim Drummey, and while my mom was certainly popular with the boys (sorry Mum but you know it's true) I don't *think* they ever dated.  Eventually she married my dad and became a Sweeney, and Jim married Terry and they all had a bunch of kids.  I think there were 14 children between the two families. 

Well of course, all of the children grew up together and became friends and the large Irish Catholic Sweeney and Drummey families were well known in Norwood, MA.  They even vacationed together each summer in Popponesset on Cape Cod, where my parents had a beach house.  Jim and my mom used to lead a Religious Ed class and lead the rosary each morning on the screened porch for all the kids because, as Jim would say "There's no vacation from God!" and then everyone walked down to the beach and had a blast all day.  Jim and Terry are my godparents but sadly I didn't see too much of them once we moved to the Cape permanently when I was six.  They sent me cards on my birthday (always with cash inside, so exciting!) and we would see them at family weddings and funerals and the like.  While my four older siblings had deep friendships with the older Drummey kids, my sister and I played with the youngest two Drummey kids, John-Paul and Meg, but lost touch quickly as we were young.

Summer Sweeneys and Summer Drummeys (Meg on right in second row from top)

Back in August my mom told me that Meg was in the hospital, after having suffered a brain aneurysm while watching her son play hockey and it wasn't looking good.  I started praying for Meg, mom of four boys, and donated to a GoFundMe set up by her sister, who had recently lost her husband unexpectedly.  Meg's husband started a journal here.

In September, my family went to a friend's house for dinner.  We were talking about where we grew up, and stories from our youth.  The husband, after hearing I was born in Norwood, said "Wait do you know the Drummey family?" and I said yes, that Mr. and Mrs. Drummey were my godparents!  He said "Well then I'm sure you've heard about Meg?" and I said I had and he and his wife (a doctor) expressed concern since she had been in a coma for so long.  I asked how he knew Meg, and he said that he grew up next to and was good friends with her husband, Walter Corcoran.  What a small world!

But wait, it gets even smaller.

In the car on the way to school, the little boys and I were saying our prayers and talking about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati because JP is going to Pollone, Italy this weekend to visit his summer home and hike where he used to hike.  I was telling the kids that he was known for being very athletic and hiking to and from mass each morning before his parents even woke up.  He was also known for being really joyful, and I said that's how we should all be as christians, because we love Jesus and we want to share his love with everyone, and nobody wants to be around mean and negative people.

Xander (age 11) pipes up "Yeah like Blessed Carlo Acutis was joyful too and started a website to tell people about eucharistic miracles.  Oh that reminds me...my math teacher said that his daughter-in-law has been sick and in the hospital for a long time and they were praying to Blessed Carlo Acutis for a miracle, and then she was able to go home yesterday ON HIS FEAST DAY!"

I nearly crashed the car in excitement.  "Wait.  What?!  Is his daughter-in-law's name Meg???"  Xander didn't know her name, but he knew that she was at a hockey game when something happened to her brain and she had to go to the hospital.  "That's her!  That's Meg!" I yelled.  I asked him who his math teacher was (he is new this year and I have too many kids to know everybody's teacher's name) and when he said "Mr. Corcoran" I squealed with excitement!  It was Meg!  She came home!  

She still has a long way to go to heal fully, but I am so thankful to God, through the intercession of Blessed Carlo Acutis, that she is home with her family.  If you are able, can you please spare a prayer and/or donate financially to help this beautiful family?  If anything, Meg's story has taught me that this is a very small world, and we all are in it together.

Oh and that's my godmother in the photo, on the left :)