November 28, 2005

• Milestones

  Today I would like to pay tribute to two of my favorite people – my
  niece, Carolyn, and my Dad.  They both have milestone birthdays
  today.

  ’18′

  Carolyn is 18 today.
   

  She will soon be graduating and going off to college.  I know a
  lot of people down here in the “gully” will miss her.  Like all of
  us.  Carolyn was probably close to two when I met her.  She
  was an adorable little girl.

   

   Roger couldn’t say Carolyn at first, so she became “Kay”. 
  They often played together and have been friends since the start. They
  love and respect each other despite their different tastes. 
  I will always cherish the memories of the concerts we have gone to,
  especially the two Dixie Chicks’.  (“Carolyn, remind me I have to get gas when we come out.”)    
  (“Carolyn, I think we’re going the wrong way. This train is evidently
  going to Shaker heights.”  “I don’t care.  It’s fun.”)
  

    (“Carolyn, I guess we will have to call a taxi to take us back
  to Cleveland, since the  train quit running at midnight.” 
  “Cool, that will be fun.  I’ve never done that.”)

  Carolyn, I know things haven’t always been easy for you but you have
  come through everything with your great attitude intact.  You are
  not only a good niece but also a good friend and I hope we are always
  friends.  I wish you a very happy 18th birthday.

  ’80′
  Dad is 80 today.
  

  I
  have been lucky to know this man for the past 44 years. From the very
  first time he came to our house to pick up my mom for a date, I have
  loved this man.  I was three at the time, and this handsome man
  was standing in our kitchen.  I ran to him with my arms
  outstretched and called him “Daddy”.  Not long after, he was my
  Daddy!  In addition, we, my three brothers and myself, gained a
  new sister and two brothers.  It was tough at times being a
  blended family, but Mom and Dad did their best to make it smooth. 
  Dad and Mom bought our farm from Granny and Grandpa.  It was their
  contention that a family with seven kids needed to have a lot of work
  for them in order to keep them out of trouble. 

  We all grew and moved on…. or not.  I stayed home on and off
  until I was 30.  I loved living at home, but would move out to be
  on my own or to live with someone eho needed a roommate to pay the
  bills.  I always knew I could move home.  After I graduated
  from high school, I attended the university of Akron. I lived on
  campus.   On move in day, I was so nervous.  Dad liked
  to tease me, and usually I took it pretty well.  This day,
  however, was not one of those days.  Dad asked me in the hallway
  if i had made sure to clean the cow manure off of my shoes and I got
  angry.  I answered him in an angry way.  And he went out to
  the car to wait for Mom.  Before they left however, I did go down
  and thank him for helping me and he hugged me and I knew “move-in” day
  was probably hardest on him. 
  A year later, Big Faw, my first father, whom my mother had divorced
  when I was a year old, decided he wanted to be back in our lives, after
  nearly 18 years.  He went to the neighborhood bar my Dad
  frequented, and made Dad’s acquaintance.  Then he started
  bad-mouthing my mother and brothers and myself.  Dad got very mad
  at him but didn’t stand in our way of seeing him. He never tried to
  separate us from Big Faw’s family, they did that themselves.   He
  told us all he knew we might be curious.   I wasn’t. I got a
  phone call in November that big Faw had passed away.  I didn’t go
  to the funeral, he wasn’t my Dad. 
  The next month, i got a call that Dad wasn’t feeling well.  When I
  went home that weekend, he was laying on the couch and was very
  grey.  i told him he needed to get in to see his doctor, because I
  thought his heart was causing his problems.  it turned out I was
  right.  He had his a bypass at Cleveland Clinic.  That was my
  last year of college because my grades weren’t very good and mom and
  dad couldn’t afford it.  Dad was off work for half a year. 

  I got a  job and lived at home.  I also enrolled in practical
  nursing school.  The night I graduated, Dad was so proud of
  me.  It was wonderful.

   
  

  
  When i became pregnant years later, Dad was one of the happiest people
  I knew, even though I wasn’t married and didn’t plan to be.  In
  fact, He was always walking in the room and before he would sit down he
  would come over and pat my stomach and talk to the baby to the pint
  where one day, I snapped at him.  He quit for that day.  But
  the next he was back at it, telling the baby his mother was a
  grouch.  I was living at home at the time.  I was due in July
  and had been off work since May.  At three in the morning of the
  4th of July, I started cramping.  it got regular and timeable. Dad
  woke up at 4 a.m. as he always did.  I told him my contractions
  had started and were every 12 minutes.  He sat with me for the
  next hour.  When my contractions were 10 minutes apart, he told me
  it was time to go to the hospital.  I thought he would wake Mom to
  take me, because he was never very interested in that medical
  stuff.  I went to the car and he followed!  He drove me up
  there, saw me get settled then left to get Mom.  He stayed home
  that day.  I delivered by c-section at 8:30 pm.  Dad was one
  of the first in to see his new grandson the next day!  He came
  before visiting hours but was allowed in because i worked in the 
  OB dept. He and Roger have been very close since.
  

  
  
  

  Mike
  and I knew each other three weeks before we married, but Dad came over
  to the house to give his seal of approval and to get to know Mike
  before he let me bring Roger home.  It didn’t take Dad long to
  realize Mike was a good guy and he said, “You know, it takes a special
  man to take a kid into his home and to love him.”  I looked up at
  my Dad and said, “Yes, it does, and thank you.”

  Dad was a hero o me and possibly to my brothers but he was also a hero
  to others.  During WW2, he was in the Navy.  His ship was
  involved in the Pacific theater.  The Japanese were firing upon
  his ship and as Dad was running for cover he saw his buddy, whom he
  called Pancho Villa (Dad was never politically correct).  This man
  had been shot and was unable to move but was still alive.  Dad
  took this man on his back and got him to safety by jumping in the
  water.  They were both rescued. “Pancho” was paralyzed and dad had
  been hit by shrapnel.  For many years thereafter, Dad would have
  nightmares about the war.  He also did not like the
  Japanese. 

  That dislike did not stop him from being a hero again.  When i was
  in high school,  we took a trip to Niagara Falls.  We were
  walking in the parking lot that was right at the top of the falls on
  the Canadian side.  A car was backing out of a space heading for
  the Falls. It was picking up speed.  The only passenger was a
  little boy!  With lightning quick reflexes, my Dad opened the door
  and put the car in park, before any of the rest of us knew what was
  going on.  The boy’s family, Japanese tourists, arrived at the car
  and began pouring gratitude upon my father.  One of them explained
  that the little boy had hurried ahead of them and had knocked the car
  out of gear.  Everyone was certain the car would have gone over
  the side of the falls if Dad hadn’t been there.  Afterwards, Dad
  did not speak badly of the Japanese.

  This is long, and I have other things to do today, but i just wanted to honor these milestones of my loved ones. 

  Happy Birthday!
  

  

  • 8:45 am
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