Saying Goodbye

Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things we have to endure here on Earth. My grandparents Jerry and Loretta were some of the most interesting and loving people I have known. It was difficult when Grandpa passed away in October of 2007. He had been in and out of the hospital several times with various problems, but when my dad told me Grandpa had passed away I was shocked and devastated. I still miss him when I think back on the great times we had together as I was growing up. Last week, Grandma joined him in Heaven. Her long battle with Alzheimer's ended early Thursday morning. Although her illness hasn't allowed Grandma to be herself for many years, it wasn't any easier to say goodbye. I went home to spend time with our family and to spend some final moments with Grandma before she passed on from this life. I believe that because of the decisions my grandparents made to follow Christ when they were here on Earth that they are rejoicing and dancing on the streets of gold with Jesus. I am thankful that I will one day see them again. However, it is still hard during this time of mourning. I have thousands of memories of the times we spent together, and I wish I could write them all down to share them with my children one day. Here are just a few things I loved and remember about them.

Jerry and Loretta were such a lively couple and truly lived life to the fullest. They were very much in love with one another which was often captured in photos when they were smooching for the camera (so sweet).
They loved to travel, spend time with family, go out with friends, cook and dance. My mom said that they "were something else" when they got on the dance floor. I wish I could have seen them dance the night away when they were in the prime of life. They originally were from New York where Grandpa was one of the last "super cops" of his day. We always heard the stories about how his cadet class was the last ones who had to pass the most rigorous physical tests the police department had. Passing the physical included doing things like lifting 85 lbs with one hand straight over your head. Grandpa never believed Matt when he would tell him that he could do that in the gym. Grandpa never let you forget how tough he was. It was surprising to us when we found out from one of his friends that the reason they moved from NY to Texas was because Grandpa didn't want to be a 1 to 2 time of year Grandfather. Come to find out Grandma wasn't too thrilled about the idea of moving to Texas, but I know she didn't regret it because she loved spending time with her grand kids.
When they arrived in Arlington, TX, where they would live out the rest of their days (just 5 minutes from our house), they joined the Knights of Columbus, the Elks club, and helped to start a new club called "The Sons of Italy." They made some great friends in these organizations and loved taking us to the Christmas parties and Easter Egg hunts hosted by the various groups. Grandpa frequently cooked his delicious Italian meals for the group gatherings.
Cooking was something that Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed doing together and was a lot of times what brought our family together. Frequently, we would spend our Sunday afternoons and evenings at their house eating for what seemed like hours. There would always be several courses brought out to either the living room where we were all hanging out or the dinner table. No matter how much they loved to get in the kitchen together and cook, I sometimes think they loved to fight about how everything should be cooked more. Rarely would we make it through a meal without them arguing about something in the kitchen. Regardless of how much one was telling the other how they were screwing up the meal, the food always came out on time and delicious. Some of my favorite dishes were lasagna (of course), fried fish and shrimp, crabs cooked in marinara sauce with spaghetti on the side, olive salad, baked clams, little smokies (which always seemed to taste better at their house), sausage and peppers, chicken parmesan, and of course Chruseiki (grandma's wonderful Polish dessert). After dinner, the ladies would usually gather around a sink full of hot water and dishes to do clean-up duty. This is where I would have a lot of quality time with Grandma. Washing dishes was always fun at their house as we laughed and heard Grandma's stories about Heddy, her dog as a child or how Mom and Dad's first dog Sugar used to stick her head out of the car window to cough when Grandma and Grandpa were smoking in the car. When it was nice out we would usually go for a walk, go feed the ducks at a pond a few blocks from the house, blow bubbles in the backyard, or go play on the playground at the elementary school in their neighborhood. If it wasn't so nice outside, we would stay inside and play fun games like Parcheesi, Go Fish, Bingo, or do a puzzle.
They were definitely from a different generation because smoking was a big part of their life from a very young age. I remember them both struggling to kick the habit several times before they finally gave it up for good. Grandma was able to do it first by using a cut straw as a replacement for her cigarettes. It was always funny watching her as we would play in the backyard and she would pull up a chair and out her straw for a "smoke." My Grandpa had a lot harder time kicking the habit he had since he was 8 years old (yes, I said 8). When Grandpa met Mike for the first time, Mike brought home a 6 pack of his home brewed beer which earned him the name "bootlegga." This was when Mike first heard the story of how Grandpa used to run his uncle's homemade wine to customers during prohibition when he was just a boy. I can picture him as a child with a wagon in tow full of wine jugs in one hand and a cigarette in the other walking down the streets of New York. He always said in his NY accent "what were the cops goin to do arrest me, I was just a kid." Grandpa always told us stories about New York and his childhood. It was fun listening to all his memories of his life. We heard his stories countless times, but I always enjoyed hearing them over and over again.
Grandma and Grandpa always took us to do fun things during our summer vacations. Wednesdays were always bowling days because it was the day they got the senior citizen discount at the bowling alley. They would take us to the Elks Club pool where we would spend the entire day in the pool jumping off the high dive and low dive, diving for rings that Grandma would throw in the pool for us to retrieve, playing Marco Polo and Sharks & Menos, watching Grandma "exercise" in the pool, and falling for Grandpa's "look I caught a fish" trick. Grandma would always pack us lunch when we would go swimming. Usually it consisted of a canister full of cheesy puffs and hot dogs kept hot in a thermos full of boiling water. They would always let us buy our drinks from the walk up bar window (most of the time we would order Shirley Temples). Alisha, Matthew and I loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa during our summer vacations.
I was so blessed to have such wonderful grandparents. I hope to pass down some of the wonderful things about them to my children.