Here is the piece I wrote for the service.
Lenny Bruce once said “There are never enough ‘I love yous’”. For the past couple of days this quote has been constantly in my thoughts.
When I think of my Poppop the word “love” is the first word I think of. All my memories of him are happy ones, moments filled with love.
Love is walking me around the house as a baby, while I was crying my head off to look at the framed pictures in the living room. He always called it “looking at the kids”.
Love is sitting in a chair by the side of the Malaga Camp pool frying in the hot summer sun while I swam for hours and hours, Poppop even spent hours teaching me how to dive.
Love is spending Wednesday evenings with me eating dinner, taking me to CCD, taking me back home to have sticky buns and play a board game and then taking me back to my house in their white “Park Avenue” which I thought was a limosunue. Mommom and Poppop even shared some of their Saturday nights with me. Some nights we would drive to Boscov’s, Poppop would sleep in the chairs in the furniture department while Mommom and I shopped and then the three of us would enjoy some fudge when we returned home.
Love is spending the day with me and then eventually my sister, keeping us busy. Some of my favorite memories are from the days we stayed at the house. Poppop and I playing badmitton, I stood in the back of his truck and he on the drive way. Watching “Stanley the Ugly Duckling” in the den over and over again. Taking me to his “workshop” in the basement where I got to look at all the neat news clippings he had of auto accidents and then play with all the neat tools. When my Mommom and Poppop got their computer in 2000 I spent hours on it and I then became my Poppop’s “computer wizard”.
Love is putting up with me when I went through my crazy teenage years and never feeling anger from him. Picking me up from school , giving me driving tips, coming to my school functions, making bread in the bread machine, taking care of Checkers the German Sheppard that Mommom and Poppop looked after from time to time, feeding “Chippie” the chipmunk and sharing his own memories with me are all things I’ll treasure forever.
Love is expanding his love to my fiancé Jeremy who acted as one of Poppops caregivers when he was in poor health. I know Poppop loved Jeremy and Jeremy considered Poppop his own and I am over the moon to know my Poppop loved and approved of the man I will spend forever with.
Love is something I learned a lot about from observing my Mommom and Poppop. Their love was picturesque and perfect in my eyes. I could tell from being around them they shared a deep passion for each other. As I restored their photos you could see the love for each other reflected in their expression. It takes a true, true love to care for my Poppop as fiercely as my Mommom did. As I watched my Mommom weep at my Poppop’s bedside the last three days of his life I realized that after 50 years these two people still had a deep and passionate love for each other. Unfortunately a lot of us throught the years take their partner for granted. One thing I have gathered from the love story of Paul and Gloria Laury is to always love your partner and constantly search for ways to stay in love with each other. These are things I take from their relationship and these are things that anyone that knew the both of them can gather.
Even when he was struggling with pneumonia in the hospital and couldn’t hardly talk he took the time to ask me how I was doing, when all we were concerned about was how he was doing. That’s the man he was, giving and loving.
“There are never enough ‘I love yous’” is a quote that has stuck with me because there truly are never enough expressions of love. The last thing I can do for Poppop is to share his legacy. His life was important and worthy of being shared.
When I think of my Poppop the word “love” is the first word I think of. All my memories of him are happy ones, moments filled with love.
Love is walking me around the house as a baby, while I was crying my head off to look at the framed pictures in the living room. He always called it “looking at the kids”.
Love is sitting in a chair by the side of the Malaga Camp pool frying in the hot summer sun while I swam for hours and hours, Poppop even spent hours teaching me how to dive.
Love is spending Wednesday evenings with me eating dinner, taking me to CCD, taking me back home to have sticky buns and play a board game and then taking me back to my house in their white “Park Avenue” which I thought was a limosunue. Mommom and Poppop even shared some of their Saturday nights with me. Some nights we would drive to Boscov’s, Poppop would sleep in the chairs in the furniture department while Mommom and I shopped and then the three of us would enjoy some fudge when we returned home.
Love is spending the day with me and then eventually my sister, keeping us busy. Some of my favorite memories are from the days we stayed at the house. Poppop and I playing badmitton, I stood in the back of his truck and he on the drive way. Watching “Stanley the Ugly Duckling” in the den over and over again. Taking me to his “workshop” in the basement where I got to look at all the neat news clippings he had of auto accidents and then play with all the neat tools. When my Mommom and Poppop got their computer in 2000 I spent hours on it and I then became my Poppop’s “computer wizard”.
Love is putting up with me when I went through my crazy teenage years and never feeling anger from him. Picking me up from school , giving me driving tips, coming to my school functions, making bread in the bread machine, taking care of Checkers the German Sheppard that Mommom and Poppop looked after from time to time, feeding “Chippie” the chipmunk and sharing his own memories with me are all things I’ll treasure forever.
Love is expanding his love to my fiancé Jeremy who acted as one of Poppops caregivers when he was in poor health. I know Poppop loved Jeremy and Jeremy considered Poppop his own and I am over the moon to know my Poppop loved and approved of the man I will spend forever with.
Love is something I learned a lot about from observing my Mommom and Poppop. Their love was picturesque and perfect in my eyes. I could tell from being around them they shared a deep passion for each other. As I restored their photos you could see the love for each other reflected in their expression. It takes a true, true love to care for my Poppop as fiercely as my Mommom did. As I watched my Mommom weep at my Poppop’s bedside the last three days of his life I realized that after 50 years these two people still had a deep and passionate love for each other. Unfortunately a lot of us throught the years take their partner for granted. One thing I have gathered from the love story of Paul and Gloria Laury is to always love your partner and constantly search for ways to stay in love with each other. These are things I take from their relationship and these are things that anyone that knew the both of them can gather.
Even when he was struggling with pneumonia in the hospital and couldn’t hardly talk he took the time to ask me how I was doing, when all we were concerned about was how he was doing. That’s the man he was, giving and loving.
“There are never enough ‘I love yous’” is a quote that has stuck with me because there truly are never enough expressions of love. The last thing I can do for Poppop is to share his legacy. His life was important and worthy of being shared.
While I was looking back at the photos of my Poppop I noticed that not only did he live an amazing life but he was also a very snappy dresser.
He even looks cool washing a car while wearing trousers and a t-shirt!
This photo is from 1943, two years before Poppop graduated from high school. That's a fantastic coat!
This is a photo of my Mommom (I will do a post about her amazing fashion sense later) and Poppop at Parrot Jungle. I love the red and black jacket, it's a nice casual look.
I am glad that I have these photos to look back on. The worst thing I can think of is my Poppop being forgotten and it is my pleasure to share his legacy.
