So you ask yourself, why is December 7, 1993 such an important day in my life?

 

Quite simply, it's the one single day that occured in my life, other than being born, that had the most historical significance to me.

 

On December 7, 1993, myself, Jay Grant, and Andy Rausch attended the Father Judge Dance the night before we were off for the Immaculate Conception on December 8th. Jay and Andy, other than Doug "The Hammer" Mokan, were my only two friends in the beginning of my high school days.

 

We went to this dance... nothing special... except somebody went and fixed Andy (we called him Dre at the time) up with this girl Chrissy Lamberti. They danced, they talked, they got along really well. And this was great to see for Dre, because he needed some action. Well, the two of them wound up becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. If you would have put money on who, out of me, Jay, and Dre, would have a girlfriend first, it wouldn't have been Dre that you bet on.

 

Through Dre and Chrissy's relationship, myself and Jay were blindly fixed up with two of her friends. Jay was fixed up with Janet Whyte, a Hubert's girl, class of 1996, and I was fixed up with Michele Fine, a Mercy Tech girl, class of 1996.

 

Jay and Janet talked on the phone, as did Michele and I, but we still had yet to meet each other, until the 6 of us went to the AMC Orleans 8 theater to see "Grumpy Old Men".  My mother drove us guys to the theater, and then the three of them got out of a van.  Boy, was I shocked!  Michele was hot!  We dated for a few weeks, but that was it.

 

The key to this story is Jay and Janet's relationship.  Although they only went out until August or so, they had a productive time together.  Probably more productive for Jay and myself, but that's fine.

 

On the weekend of February 4-6, 1993, I went with Janet on a St. Dominic's CYO Camping Trip to Camp Neumann.  On this trip I met "Doctor" Jimmy Weldon and Dave "The Man" Anastasi, two men that would help change my life forever.  It was through them that I joined "The Ghetto", the secret brotherhood of The Frisbee, The Worm, and The Oak Tree.  On this trip, I also met such people as Kevin Szymanski, Joanna Shellenberger, Jenn Reczka, Rosemary Duffy, Billy Duffy, Chris Hutton, Tracy Bowen, Cindi Curry, and the legendary Heather Pacan.  Although she didn't come along until later, I can't forget to mention my friend "Flea", Kayla Pacan.

 

Because of the fun I had, I decided to join these people in their CYO thing.  It was a decision that would help change my life.

 

Through the connections I made in CYO, I met such people as Claire Bradley, Lauren Hoerst, Christine "Pokey" Mulhern, Sue Koszelak, Danny Foster, Jeff Foster, Kevin Barry, Andrea Ahmie, Cheryl Cichonski, Teresa Moyer, Meaghan Kerrigan, Jennifer Jones, Tara Cohan, Maggie Warner, Jennifer Venneri, Angela Raub, Noel Agdalane, Joanna Lee, Phil Lee, Shannon Brown, and many more people from inside and outside St. Dominic's through CYO.

 

It was also through this time in CYO that I met Kelly Dutill and Sue Tolan.  Sue and Kelly were best friends, and as most of you know, I wound up dating Sue for over two and a half years.  Through all of that, Kelly and I have been real tight, and still are today.

 

If I had not gone out with Sue, I never would have met her cousin Janine Fries, her brother Johnny Fries, her husband "The Captain" John Sadlowski, or good friends Jim and Megan Kelly, Joe Scarpa, Nick McDonnell, Bongo Stanwood, Larry Foster, Jeremy McDowell, Tim Lee, Damon Gramley, Jen Manieri, etc.

 

Nor do I think I would have met such wonderful people as Megan Cubbage, Kim Gaffney, Colleen "The Fish" Bennett, Kathy Meyers, Katie O'Connor, Theresa Geier, Brianne McKeown, Ali Mumper, and many, many more wonderful products of St. Hubert's.

 

I took Sue to my Senior Prom, and Jay went with Sue Koszelak.  At this prom we sat with Jim Spicer and Bobby Weinert, both of which were guys I knew from classes, but never hung with them outside of school.  I will say that I talked to Spice a lot more than I did to Bob, but that was only because I had one class with Bob, as opposed to the ton of classes I had with Spice.  Through Spice and Bob, we met Mike Bucchieri and Steve Hancock, who coincidentally Jay knew through Sue Koszelak as well.

 

Had I never met Angela Raub, such people as Roxanne Haldeman, Sharon Sullivan, and possibly Christine Zachwieja wouldn't have entered my life until much later than they did.

 

Had I never met Jimmy Weldon, such people like Chrissy Weldon, Gregg Maddalo and Jen Lavish would not have entered my life.

 

Had I never met Jeff and Danny Foster, I never would have met people like Deanna Sarzynski, Lauren Belcher, Mary Quinn, Audrey Dwyer, Chrissy and Kelly Hatch, Debbie Foster, Skip Foster, Krissy Durrant, etc.

 

And through Kelly Dutill, people like her brothers Jimmie "The Duke" Dutill, Brian Dutill, and Craig Murray, Ed Skirkie, Joe Skirkie, Tim Puglia, Jenna Puglia, and Nicole Puglia would have never been met.

 

The only people I might not be able to directly be able to trace back to December 7, 1993 are Doug Mokan, Jay Grant, Andy Rausch, Jim Spicer, and Bobby Weinert.  So, people like Pat Spicer, Colleen Fleetwood, my old protege Meat, Jessie Weinert, and Jenn Bruno might have eventually been in my life regardless.

 

I also think I would still be working for Beneficial Savings Bank anyway, since I got that job through Jay.  If you're someone I know from working at one of my many Beneficial branches, you are exempt from this little list, including April Keppler, the future Mrs. Asher.

 

So there you have it.  My life would not be the way it is without Andy Rausch meeting Chrissy Lamberti on December 7, 1993.

 

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