Pop served in the 320th Squadron of the Fifth Air Force's 90th Bomb Group known as the "Jolly Rogers". He was an Aerial Engineer and Top Turret Gunner in a B24-J Liberator.
Happy Friday faithful readers! Did you get the fridge all cleared out? I learned how to can using the water bath method! I canned 2 quarts and 9 pints, and blanched and froze 10 more ziptop bags of tomatoes!
This week, moxy. fans, I am writing on a personal note. Last week, my best friend’s Pop passed away. I had never met the man, but having known my friend for 16 years, I feel like I did. He was a war veteran, a loyal husband, a good Dad, and overwhelmingly loved by anyone who crossed his path.
This week, moxy. fans, I am writing on a personal note. Last week, my best friend’s Pop passed away. I had never met the man, but having known my friend for 16 years, I feel like I did. He was a war veteran, a loyal husband, a good Dad, and overwhelmingly loved by anyone who crossed his path.
Among other things, in his later life he suffered from various illnesses, including but not limited to Alzheimer’s and dementia. Yet he still was very respectful and polite, always had a good story to tell, and could easily put a smile on the face of anyone who passed through his life. Last Thursday the bad overtook the good, and he took his last breath.
It makes one take pause to consider our own mortality. I walked by the place where he was being taken care of, thought of him, looked at the sky… and muttered to myself the phrase he always used to utter out loud in Italian on such a beautiful sunny fall day. It makes me want to stop and look at the sky, the trees… feel the warmth of the sun on my face… and just appreciate.
I guess the point is faithful readers, live life. Don’t take anything, whether it ordinary or extraordinary, for granted. Take a walk… enjoy the sun… jump up and down on the bed… swing on a swing set… dance on the coffee table (just don’t break it like I did!)… sing out loud in public…appreciate the good things… let go of the bad things… take a leap of faith.
Today I went through my filing cabinet. All of it <grumble>. I thought I had a pretty good system of getting rid of old bills that were more than 6 months or a year old… but apparently I didn’t clean out the bottom… I was finding owner’s manuals for appliances I don’t even own anymore, pay stubs from 10 years ago… and then I started digging deeper, finding credit card bills from 6 years ago… If I hadn’t mentioned, part of the reason that I started my business is because I amassed a large amount of debt in a short amount of time several years ago, and had a lot of negativity hit my life all in that stint. Afterward, I managed to pay off that debt in about 4 years. I knew if I could do that, I could do it in a positive direction, and my business idea was formed.
I guess my point is in that spell there was a great amount of personal loss. Never once did I bat an eye at getting another credit card, and another, and another… it was purely “by any means necessary” in regards to quality of life for my loved ones. I will never regret a single penny of that money, because it meant I got to spend just a little more time. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Carpe diem, faithful readers. Seize the day. Don’t spend one more second with regret. No one on their death bed sat up and said, “I wished I had worked more.” Learn to appreciate what you have. It isn’t the material things. Never was, never will be. It is the people that you meet. The ones you love. It is the strangers that you smile and say “hello” to. It is the single serving conversations that impact your life. The random acts of kindness.
And to Pop… I hope we will get a chance to meet in the next life. You’ve raised a wonderful son. I’ll keep an eye on him for you… enjoy the sun. From now on, every day will be una bella giornata.
~m.
It makes one take pause to consider our own mortality. I walked by the place where he was being taken care of, thought of him, looked at the sky… and muttered to myself the phrase he always used to utter out loud in Italian on such a beautiful sunny fall day. It makes me want to stop and look at the sky, the trees… feel the warmth of the sun on my face… and just appreciate.
I guess the point is faithful readers, live life. Don’t take anything, whether it ordinary or extraordinary, for granted. Take a walk… enjoy the sun… jump up and down on the bed… swing on a swing set… dance on the coffee table (just don’t break it like I did!)… sing out loud in public…appreciate the good things… let go of the bad things… take a leap of faith.
Today I went through my filing cabinet. All of it <grumble>. I thought I had a pretty good system of getting rid of old bills that were more than 6 months or a year old… but apparently I didn’t clean out the bottom… I was finding owner’s manuals for appliances I don’t even own anymore, pay stubs from 10 years ago… and then I started digging deeper, finding credit card bills from 6 years ago… If I hadn’t mentioned, part of the reason that I started my business is because I amassed a large amount of debt in a short amount of time several years ago, and had a lot of negativity hit my life all in that stint. Afterward, I managed to pay off that debt in about 4 years. I knew if I could do that, I could do it in a positive direction, and my business idea was formed.
I guess my point is in that spell there was a great amount of personal loss. Never once did I bat an eye at getting another credit card, and another, and another… it was purely “by any means necessary” in regards to quality of life for my loved ones. I will never regret a single penny of that money, because it meant I got to spend just a little more time. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Carpe diem, faithful readers. Seize the day. Don’t spend one more second with regret. No one on their death bed sat up and said, “I wished I had worked more.” Learn to appreciate what you have. It isn’t the material things. Never was, never will be. It is the people that you meet. The ones you love. It is the strangers that you smile and say “hello” to. It is the single serving conversations that impact your life. The random acts of kindness.
And to Pop… I hope we will get a chance to meet in the next life. You’ve raised a wonderful son. I’ll keep an eye on him for you… enjoy the sun. From now on, every day will be una bella giornata.
~m.
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