Weekend Contest in honor of dear old dad ended

[speechteachri]

I have psted my favorite dad memory before from my childhood, but I have a recent one to share.

As background, my father is an old, pessimistic, unemotional, French Canadian (not that there's anything wrong with that). He rarely shows any emotion except to yell about the next consipiracy that he envisions going on.

Recently, my dd's school held a "grandfriends" day to invite granparents and family friends in to spend part of the day. My dd is very close with my parents, but for some reason, my mother always gets asked, and often my father does not...I think everyone thinks he is not interested in that sort of "stuff." Well, dd asked both of them to go, and he was so excited...now you have to understand that my dd attends a Christian School an my father is a self-proclaimed athiest (I think more agnostic)...

Anyway during the day's festivities, my dd had the opportunity to recite he speech meet piece, which was the poem "The Highwayman." Now, it is a moving poem and all, but my mother told me that by the end of the poem, my father was sitting in his seat crying! He was very oved by my dd's interpretation and her ability to present the poem, and he hadn't gotten the opportunity to experience that sort of thing before. Anyway, I just thought that was so sweet! He had a great time that day, and came home talking about what a great time he had with all the kids and with dd's friends, and how welcome he felt!

[fronisgl]

My grandfather,Luigi,(known as Nini to us) is by far the best grandfather and father. He grew up in a little town called Esperia in a very poor part of Italy. He married my grandmother and had 2 children. When my dad was 2 my grandmother died of pnuemonia. My grandfather with the help of my great aunt raised my dad and aunt. World War 2 was fought in his hometown and he ended up a prisoner of war. After the war he had an opportunity to bring the family to the USA. They came over on the Andrea Adora(the last successful trip before she sunk).

Through the years Nini helped to raise me and all the grandchildren. There isn't 1 memorable moment that stands out. It is the many small daily things he did to show his love to us. He was a kind and gentle person who would spend his time singing Italian folk songs to us, making items from wood such as flutes and a doll for my aunt when she was a young girl. (He never had much money and couldn't afford to buy her a doll so he made one out of wood). He was very artistic and had the best garden in the neighborhood. At 90 he took up painting and I have several of his pictures hanging up.

One funny memory was after my cousin's wedding there was a small group of us watching WW Wrestling which Nini loved to watch. He was yelling at the tv and other people were too noisy that the hotel security came to his room and asked them to quiet down. This still makes me laugh even when I am so saddened by his death this past Thursday.

My family and I will say our final farewells to him on Tuesday. He is the last of that generation to die. I keep thinking of one of my favorite song lines which fits Nini's life. Some of it's tragic,some of it's magic but I had a good life all the way.

He will be missed but never forgotten. I'm blessed to have had him in my life for so long. He was 100 years,4 months and 1 day old.

[arob414]

My daddy has been gone for 34 yrs, so he never got to see any of his 6 grandchildren or the 3 greats (soon to be 5). So many times I have wished my girls could have known him. He was my best friend, biggest supporter, made life fun and held me when I cried.

At Christmas, he would tell my sister and I not to come down stairs until 7a. Then, at 6a, he would be banging on the piano asking why we weren't up. When I smashed my thumb in my new car door, he let me sit on his lap, all night, crying. He finally convinced me to go to the ER and have my thumb drilled. Afterwards, he stuck his out for the doc to drill, said I had squeezed his too hard. He nearly always was full of patience, rarely yelled at us. Joked alot.

When I was 21, he had cancer. It was the 2nd time, and since he had overcome it the yr before, my sister and I thought he would this time, also. He wanted to tell us the truth, but my mom wanted to protect us. We learned the truth about a month before he died. But, I had figured it out. He spent the last month, in the hospital. I was between colleges, so I stayed with him, alot, while my mom worked. We talked alot. During one conversation, he told me he wanted my mom to re-marry and us to be supportive. (His brother didn't support my grandmother's decision to re-marry). We talked about it, quite a bit. At one point we discussed who she could marry. There was a man, at church, Daddy thought he would be great for my mom. We laughed, that man never been married. Nearly one year to the day that my daddy died, my mom married that man, Everette.

Everette died 12 yrs later. He was a quiet man, but just as wonderful as my dad, and had a big heart. After he died, I told my mom the story about Daddy wanting her to marry Everette.

Both of them are gone, but I still have so many memories of them that in some ways it is like the are still around. Happy Father's Day!

[sunshinecindy]

Such great posts here....but only one can win. The winner was picked by random.org, not by the story. There is no way anyone could pick just one of them.

The winner is post #17.....Lorisnuts.

Congrats....open up TT and include your full name and address so I can send you your prize.

[lswheatly]

Congratulations

[DarcyDog]

Congrats! I enjoyed reading everyone's stories.

[cuppycakemom]

Congrats!