Page 35 - November 2021

Catanzara parted the throng so Josh Blas could make his way to see Junior. They embraced in a hug that neither wanted to let go. Not just a thank you from Carlos for saving his life. More like a greeting between brothers who haven’t seen each other in a while.
Seeing Josh certainly made it a special day for Junior. And what also made the day was where he went after he stood up out of his wheelchair and sat down in the car waiting to take him to the next destination.
That turned out to be the cemetery where he went to pay respects to Ella. Lodge 7 provided a group of members to ac- company Junior, and they helped him get up the six cement steps leading to the mausoleum where Ella is interred. His fa- ther wanted to push him the rest of the way, but Junior did it himself.
Here was another celebration of the first day of the rest of his life. Junior wants to reach out to everybody. He had been spending many of his inpatient days returning the 300 texts coming in every day to Carlos Sr., Brenda, his sister, Nicole, and other family members. It’s almost as if he we wanted to give thanks to every person who joined in the “Junior...Junior... Junior” chant when he rolled through the door, as well as the ones he has been seeing on FaceTime at so many events during the past three months.
“The people mean so much to him,” Carlos Sr. revealed. “As we were coming out, I said, ‘Chuck, they love you.’ He goes, ‘This is God’s work.’”
If we have learned anything about Junior the past three months, it’s that he keeps moving forward. This day was one moment in time, but such a big one that WGN livestreamed all 40 minutes of the departure.
During that time, WGN also ran an ongoing crawl across the bottom of the screen with social media posts from people sending cheers, thoughts and prayers to Junior. That certain- ly supplemented the bevy of “Carlos Strong” signs people who came out to Shirley Ryan waved in rhythm to the sounds of the mariachi band soundtrack.
Brenda shared how overwhelmingly rewarding the day had been, especially because of how Chicago Police Officers came out in the rain – many on their day off – to create this memora- ble moment in time. Yes, one moment in time, when the lyrics from that famous song were never more applicable.
As he drove away, you could almost hear this verse that truly defines this moment:
Each day I live I want to be
A day to give The best of me I’m only one But not alone My finest day Is yet unknown
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2021 35