This is a flashback from 1981, where I had just arrived at my first US parish of Holy Spirit, in New Hyde Park. Back then I was the sixth priest in the parish, but soon we would be 5, then 4 and finally 3, and at times even just two of us, me and my pastor Fr. John Heinlein. I spent 10 years in that parish, visiting families, spending time with schoolchildren in their classrooms, and since I did not have a car, biking just about everywhere, until I got my license in 1983. I worked also with the Youth Group, the Folk Group, the altar-servers and other organizations. There I experienced snow and ice for the first time. In fact where I'm standing there next to the parish sign, one October morning, I slipped on a sheet of ice, being unaware that water can freeze. I was carrying my breviary, a missalette and my cassette for music during communion on my way to celebrate Mass, and they all came flying, thankfully all of them ending on the grass. I was not hurt, but that day I learned the lesson that you have to be careful walking in the winter months, as water freezes and snow can be very slippery too, even when you're wearing boots and good shoes.
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