Juliet's Journal

A Spiritual Farewell

June 18, 2008

Had a rough weekend – Doug’s grandfather’s memorial service was held on Saturday. It was very touching, and very sad of course. It was also the first time I’d met many of his relatives. Not exactly prime conditions for meeting la familia. Actually, I have to say it ended up being more of a celebration of Tata’s life once the actual memorial service at the funeral home was over. A very spiritual celebration…

We all went over to Tutto Pazzo in Huntington, New York (on Long Island), one of Tata’s favorite restaurants. This is where the “spirituality” really kicked in. As we walked into the restaurant, located across from a beautiful marina, we were greeted by a man with a familiar face. Turns out “Luigi” and I had crossed paths years before. As some of you know, Mike and I used to host the show, “Fox and Friends Weekend” on the Fox News Channel along with a great guy named Julian Phillips. About 6 years ago, Julian lived out on the Island, and invited us out one night for dinner…at Tutto Pazzo. We had a great time. A few months later, we had Luigi on our show for a little Italian cooking segment. You know how life is, the years pass, the faces fade. I didn’t even remember being there until Luigi came up to me. Just funny that this place was back in my life again, because of Tata.

After dinner, Doug and I took his mom and grandmother, Yaya back to her house. And that’s where the strangest, most spiritual thing occurred. Gomez, my dog is usually a pretty energetic, friendly guy. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3pm or 3am, when you call him, he comes running.

Over the last year, Doug and I would often bring him out when we visited Tata and Yaya. Tata in particular got such a kick out of my little Chihuahua. So much so that in his final hours, he would ask not about me or Doug but about Gomez. In fact during our last few visits, Tata would make it his mission to have me bring messages back to Gomez (who we decided to leave home…). It was really sweet, and so funny that this little old man was just so infatuated with this little bitty dog.

So we get home after the memorial and the luncheon, and the four of us start talking about life, weddings, Tata of course. At one point, someone said “Hey where’s Gomey?” We called out for him, to no avail. Their house isn’t little, but it isn’t so large that he wouldn’t be able to hear us calling.

I went looking for him and lo and behold, there he is, sitting at the entrance of Tata’s room, on the carpet inside the room, right at the edge of the doorway. He had this sad look on his face, I swear. I looked at him and tried to call him over, and he wouldn’t budge. I’m telling you, Gomez never just sits there in a little blob not moving but that’s exactly what he was doing. I finally walked over and tried to budge him a little. Still nothing. He just stared up at me and stayed balled up, limp. This went on for a good 5 minutes. Doug came over and we both tried. Then Doug’s mom. It was surreal. I can’t help but feel there was some sort of connection there, some sort of message from Tata.

The next day, Gomey was back at it again. Yaya found him this time. She tried to get him moving and, again he wouldn’t budge.

I have no idea what that meant, but I wasn’t the only one who felt like Gomez was channeling something, or someone.

I called Yaya yesterday to see how she was holding up, and she immediately started talking about Gomez and how affected she was by what went on over the weekend.

Wild.

In other news… Doug and I are trying to figure out where we want to have our wedding reception, and when. I’m committed to making this experience fun, as opposed to stressful. I’m also committed to making it about us, as opposed to trying to turn it into a spectacle of forced romance. We’re really hoping we can do the ceremony at our home, which is a fairly spacious loft-style type of place that would, if cleared of all the furniture, be a great space to hold a wedding ceremony. We have beautiful views of the city that would look gorgeous on a winter night, which is when we’d want to have it.

I’m not sure how much, if any, of my wedding plans will play into the show but if they don’t, I’ll try to include some of the build-up and planning on this website. I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions; ideas or things you’ve seen at other weddings that you’ve loved.

My bridesmaids and I are going to look at wedding gowns during our July 4th week hiatus, so I’ll try to get a camera in there – maybe you can help me decide which one to pick.

Speaking of – the news doesn’t stop while we’re on vacation, kids. We’ll be bringing you the best of the best segments. I know you all don’t watch every single second, because life is happening, and you’re chasing the baby around and dropping Joey off at baseball practice – so please continue to check M&J out over the week of the 4th. We’ll be bringing you many of those news-you-can-use segments we loved most.

And speaking of the 4th – Mike and I are hosting a 2-hour radio special on Fox News Radio – “This Land is My Land”, a celebration of America’s love of song. Special guests include Charlie Daniels, Bo Bice and Jeff Cook from “Alabama”. So please tune in.

And I might as well mention something that happened with regard to this special. The producer, a wonderful, talented woman named Dawn Weiner asked Mike if he or I had a favorite “America” themed song. I said “I love ‘American Girl’ by Tom Petty!”

Cue the dumb blonde music.

I guess when you suggest someone play a song during a patriotic-themed show, you might want to actually listen to the lyrics before you suggest it. “American Girl” sounds nice and all, but allegedly it’s about an accidental suicide at the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Tom Petty’s hometown.

According to bloggers, a young debutante tried hallucinogens one night back in the 1960’s and ended up trying to fly, out of her dorm room window onto the concrete below.

Tom Petty’s guitarist, Mike Campbell reportedly says they recorded the song on the 4th of July and he says it’s a beautiful love song with Florida imagery. No mention of drugs.

Regardless, we figured maybe we’d leave that one out until we knew the true story.

And Tom, if you’d like to call me to sort this whole thing out, go ahead.

Real quick… I mentioned the Fox News Channel earlier. I’m watching my friend and colleague Martha MacCallum host a new version of her old show “Live Desk”. It’s a really cool concept – lots of action, lots of information, breaking news but the thing I love most is lots of behind-the-scenes stuff. She and her co-host Trace Gallagher take you right into the belly of Fox’s newsroom. They talk to the assignment desk people, the producers; even the reporters in the field in between their ‘official’ live shots. It’s different, and well done I think. Check it out. Martha fills in for me when I’m sick or on assignment, and on top of that she’s just a really great gal.