#23 DAD I LOVE YOU - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 6/15/12

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to

MY DIGNIFIED ITALIAN DAD

FOR MY FATHER
A GREAT MAN AMONG MEN

DADDY I WILL ALWAYS BE YOUR BABY AND I LOVE YOU

First I want to say A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who shared your love, wisdom, and condolences with my mom, sister and me after the passing of our father on June 2nd. It has meant a lot to us.

My Dad came to this country to fulfill the American Dream.  And he succeeded.  He went through Ellis Island and he was so proud to have his name engraved on the commemorative wall there.   Though not highly educated he was a very wise, smart and religious man. 

He lived his life according to his beliefs – which were strongly rooted in his catholic upbringing – and he instilled them in us, his children.

My father believed in honor, in keeping his word, and he had what many lack these days – integrity.  If you had my father’s trust and respect – you earned it -- that was indeed precious.   He always instructed, "don't pay attention to what people say, watch what they do." How right he was.
He was well versed with dealing with people, politics and life. He was streetsmart and savvy, and extremely loyal to his friends and family – almost to a fault.  But that attribute made him who he was. 

What can I say about my dad?  He was reliable, incredibly hard working (even when out of work at one point he said, "I didn't come to America to go on the dole!" - now that is character!!!)and enjoyed life - especially during the holidays.  He believed in the importance of family and he believed in the importance of maintaining traditions.  He loved Easter and especially Xmas where he always stayed up to watch midnight mass in Rome. Though he couldn’t get to church any longer, he prayed every day and before every meal.  The traditional Italian fare for Xmas was something he revelled in and we continue the culinary traditions today with great pleasure.

He always had determination, and dignity.  He taught us what was truly of value in life which is keeping your loved ones safe, keeping a roof over your head, food on the table and being loved.  We always felt his love through good times and bad, it was something that we never questioned.  Every day he would say, “I love you and be careful.”

He was very proud of us, his daughters - he always said, "I never wanted sons, I wanted daughters and I got two beautiful, smart and wonderful ones. God was good to me."  In his 80's he would save up money and once or twice a year would call us over and give us $100 saying, "this is from your Dad, buy something nice for  yourself." That patiently saved money was worth about a million to me. That gesture of love was and will remain - priceless. 

My mom and dad were married almost 71 years.   Dad had quite the reputation growing up as a ladies man.  When my mother met him at a dance he was the perfect gentleman – and they fell in love.  They married twice, once at city hall when he was going into the army during WWII and once when he was on leave, in church.  They married on July 4^th – dad told us it was because he would be able to remember his anniversary date.  It was actually because that is when he was on leave from the army… he always loved to tell a good story. They have eaten dinner together every night for all this time. Not many of us can attest to that.

He was our Dad – we kissed him and hugged him goodnight every night of our childhood and we kissed him and hugged him goodbye every single time we parted from him in our adult lives as well.    Our Dad was unique, sometimes dramatic, sometimes vain but always had our welfare in his foremost thoughts and actions. And for that we are eternally grateful. 

We are grieving because he is not around – we have a huge void in our lives – but he is with God and we do feel solace with that.  One day we will all be together again – and that will be forever.

This poem truly sums up how we are feeling – he will be sorely missed:

God saw you getting tired

And a cure was not to be

So he put His arms around you

And whispered, “Come to me”

With tearful eyes we watched you

And saw you pass away

Although we loved you dearly

We could not make you stay

A golden heart stopped beating

Hard working hands at rest

God broke our heart to prove to us

He only takes the best