He was my mom's dad and my Nonno. He had seven younger brothers and sisters who really saw him as the head of their family. He had four other children and 11 grandchildren besides me.
I must say that being the oldest grandchild I probably had the opportunity to spend the most time with him and to know him the best. My grandfather was always hardworking and as a member of the Rotary Club he ran our local science fair for years and helped to organize the winter carnival. This year he was inducted into the hall of fame at his former university in Michigan. As a young engineer at the age of 26 he designed and oversaw the largest underground blast (at a mine in Northern Ontario) in the entire world. I didn't even know that until last year though and, while it makes me proud, that isn't why i loved my nonno.
--He used to sit on the edge of his bed and give my sister and I each a comb and some hair stuff and we would just go nuts doing his hair, making it stand straight up or twisting it and he would always look in the mirror and admire our work.
--One of my favourite things to do with him was feed the ducks. On a nice day we would get ready by filling grocery bags with popcorn and then drive down to bellevue park to spend all afternoon feeding the ducks and watching the deer.
--I love to learn. Even though he wasn't able to read well for the last three years he still gets a National Geographic subscription so that I could read them.
--He would always fill up an old pill jar with jelly beans when we would visit and let me pick out all of the orange jelly beans.
--He liked to cook and would often be up at 4am making pancakes or starting on dinner. We would have to try to distract him on Thanksgiving so that the turkey wouldn't end up in the oven 8 hours before dinner.
--He called me Katie-girl
I like country music (no this is not a side note) and a song by Randy Travis says "it's not what you take when you leave the world behind you, it's what you leave behind you when you go"
Now that my nonno is gone he has left a huge family that misses and loves him and a great deal of the community that has benefitted from some of the good work he has done.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 23
Wednesday, December 13
Some things dont change
The greyhound arrived in the Soo at lunch on Tuesday from Guelph, having left at 1030 Monday night. Anyone continuing on to Vancouver will be arriving at 9:20pm Thursday evening. I wonder if the single mother with her new son was warmly welcomed by the new grandparents. She would have arrived this morning I think. It was surprising the number of young single mothers on this trip, they bonded easily with each other while waiting for the very late bus to return from a tune-up in Sudbury.
Now that i'm home there is so much to do. That will keep me busy but I plan to also spend some quality time reading. I have already finished half of Go Ask Alice. More for teen readers following an anonymous young girls diary from a good home to the streets of California running away from a drug addiction. It's sad, i should have chosen something more upbeat for my first book home but it is an easy two or three hour read.
I just returned from the Plummer Hospital, geniously situated right next to the General hospital. One city, two hospitals, right beside each other? More importantly that the brilliance of the location planners I spent a few hours visiting with my Nonno. It was a bit of a shock to walk into his room and see that his face wasn't the same. He had sunken cheeks and his nose was so thin, his whole face was so thin. I probably would have cried except that he cannot help telling jokes. He told me about the day my aunt Marsha was born, 38 years ago when men didn't go into the hospital room and he slept at the Diplomat hotel waiting for news. Too bad the man behind the reception desk fell asleep and didn't get the phone call to announce the birth of his 5th child. He apologized to his middle of 5 children for the five years he tormented him about his long, curly hippie hair. Three of his sisters visited him (he is the oldest of 8 children). One brushed his hair, another recounted how he had refused to sit in the hard hospital chair any longer because he was not suffering from ALL in fact, he was suffering from the A-S-S disease. The middle sister insisted on getting Nonno on her side about how spoiled the oldest sister had been in childhood. all over the age of 60 and still taunting each other!
One comfort was that when I held his hand it was the same. Nothing had changed that i could see. His gold wedding band a bit faded stuck over his finger on his hands that seem to be the only part of his body that hasn't been affected by the quick weightloss. I guess that means i am doomed to have chubby fingers forever, its genetic!
Now that i'm home there is so much to do. That will keep me busy but I plan to also spend some quality time reading. I have already finished half of Go Ask Alice. More for teen readers following an anonymous young girls diary from a good home to the streets of California running away from a drug addiction. It's sad, i should have chosen something more upbeat for my first book home but it is an easy two or three hour read.
I just returned from the Plummer Hospital, geniously situated right next to the General hospital. One city, two hospitals, right beside each other? More importantly that the brilliance of the location planners I spent a few hours visiting with my Nonno. It was a bit of a shock to walk into his room and see that his face wasn't the same. He had sunken cheeks and his nose was so thin, his whole face was so thin. I probably would have cried except that he cannot help telling jokes. He told me about the day my aunt Marsha was born, 38 years ago when men didn't go into the hospital room and he slept at the Diplomat hotel waiting for news. Too bad the man behind the reception desk fell asleep and didn't get the phone call to announce the birth of his 5th child. He apologized to his middle of 5 children for the five years he tormented him about his long, curly hippie hair. Three of his sisters visited him (he is the oldest of 8 children). One brushed his hair, another recounted how he had refused to sit in the hard hospital chair any longer because he was not suffering from ALL in fact, he was suffering from the A-S-S disease. The middle sister insisted on getting Nonno on her side about how spoiled the oldest sister had been in childhood. all over the age of 60 and still taunting each other!
One comfort was that when I held his hand it was the same. Nothing had changed that i could see. His gold wedding band a bit faded stuck over his finger on his hands that seem to be the only part of his body that hasn't been affected by the quick weightloss. I guess that means i am doomed to have chubby fingers forever, its genetic!
Monday, December 4
productivity (in a pear tree)
These last few days have been so relaxing and productive, I love exam time! I have baked over 200 cookies and even got to decorate a whole batch of sugar cookies, you can't much more fun than that! I won't say how many episodes of Friends I watched in that time but if I make it a goal to watch the whole series then watching episodes is productive, right? Right.
I plan on heading out for the great white north on the 11th of december. I have never left early for the holidays, this is revolutionary! It is good because my Nonno (grandpa) has been sick off and on since thanksgiving but I can't call him because he doesnt hear so hot on the phone. He was diagnosed with Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia about a month ago. it is a cancer of the white blood cells, it is actually manageable with just a few rounds of chemo and some pills but it will never go away. He had an infection a few days ago and they thought he would not make it but he pulled through but they are making him stay in isolation, he hates the hospital. Anyway, prayer for him would be appreciated, for his health, for my Nana because she is very stressed and our whole family because its Christmas time.
I plan on heading out for the great white north on the 11th of december. I have never left early for the holidays, this is revolutionary! It is good because my Nonno (grandpa) has been sick off and on since thanksgiving but I can't call him because he doesnt hear so hot on the phone. He was diagnosed with Chronic Myelocytic Leukemia about a month ago. it is a cancer of the white blood cells, it is actually manageable with just a few rounds of chemo and some pills but it will never go away. He had an infection a few days ago and they thought he would not make it but he pulled through but they are making him stay in isolation, he hates the hospital. Anyway, prayer for him would be appreciated, for his health, for my Nana because she is very stressed and our whole family because its Christmas time.
Thursday, October 12
Confessions of an Unfaithful Blogger PART II
So I already titled a post this but then I realized that I didn't acutally bother to confess anything.
What I had intended to say was that sometimes the act just writing the blog is enough to get the benefits. Sometimes I will sit down to blog and halfway through or even at the end I will realize that its too personal to post (or just more personal that i'm willing to get) and that I don't need to actually post it. I just erase it and move on, but writing it gives me time to process. Its like journalling on a chalkboard. Which is effective for me since even when I journal its to get things out not to go back and read about it later.
Who knows, maybe I won't even post this one, maybe I will.
The first snow fall today, I can't help but mention it: GORGEOUS! Someone asked me if it feels like home, and yeah, it does a little. It brought back memories of Halloween when my mom, sister and I would go to Jo-Ann fabrics across the river and pick out a costume for my mom to make us. I would always beg to be a genie or a mermaid or anything but like that, but no, our costumes had to be large enough to fit a snowsuit underneath. So eventually I would always settle on some sort of costume with a large gown or cape (princess, native-american princess, queen, princess, ace of spades, you get the picture).
What I had intended to say was that sometimes the act just writing the blog is enough to get the benefits. Sometimes I will sit down to blog and halfway through or even at the end I will realize that its too personal to post (or just more personal that i'm willing to get) and that I don't need to actually post it. I just erase it and move on, but writing it gives me time to process. Its like journalling on a chalkboard. Which is effective for me since even when I journal its to get things out not to go back and read about it later.
Who knows, maybe I won't even post this one, maybe I will.
The first snow fall today, I can't help but mention it: GORGEOUS! Someone asked me if it feels like home, and yeah, it does a little. It brought back memories of Halloween when my mom, sister and I would go to Jo-Ann fabrics across the river and pick out a costume for my mom to make us. I would always beg to be a genie or a mermaid or anything but like that, but no, our costumes had to be large enough to fit a snowsuit underneath. So eventually I would always settle on some sort of costume with a large gown or cape (princess, native-american princess, queen, princess, ace of spades, you get the picture).
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