Uncle Frank and Grandpa AlexThis week another member of the greatest generation passed away. He was my Uncle Frank. A most wonderful kind man with a great sense of humor a big heart and a bigger family. He is one of my Mothers older brothers.
Uncle Franks passing has brought back a flood of childhood memories for me, most of them having to do with the wonderfully huge extended family that I have back in my home town.
When my family has a funeral it basically turns into a wonderful wake. The wake hits with floods of relatives coming to our old haunt at the Polish Club where the family drinks and eats their sorrows away. (The Polish Club in itself deserves a blog of it's own.)
It is hard living across country and missing the gathering. You miss so much more than a farewell funeral. You miss the introduction of new family members by marriage or birth. You miss the comedy and the tragedy of a large family. You miss the food, you miss the sharing, you miss the hugs. You miss the people who know where you came from and get your sense of humor that sometimes only comes with genetics. You miss the love.
Well enough about me and what I miss... More about Uncle Frank and my Uncle Henry. They both were funny guys who always had a joke and a story. Our family was old world old school, Polish style. I remember things like my Uncle Henry making sausage in his basement. (Best sausage ever) Simple pleasures were the best like Sunday get-
togethers at Uncle Franks or by the river. At these events mass
quantities of beer were consumed by the Aunts and Uncles and the kids ran and ran until we dropped. Our parents would
inevitably drive home with sleeping children, exhausted by the days events, in the back seat of the car.
My Uncle Henry was the eldest son and Uncle Frank was the next eldest son. I remember my Mom relaying a story about Uncle Henry telling a joke to Uncle Frank before he passed away and today it becomes appropriate and funny in the way my family thinks things are funny.
Uncle HenryHere is the joke: Two old men had been best friends for years, and they both live to their early 90's, when one of them suddenly falls deathly ill. His friend comes to visit him on his deathbed, and they're reminiscing about their long friendship, when the dying man's friend asks, "Listen, when you die, do me a favor. I want to know if there's baseball in heaven."
The dying man said, "We've been friends for years, this I'll do for you." And then he dies.
A couple days later, his surviving friend is sleeping when he hears his friend's voice. The voice says, "I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there's baseball in heaven."
"What's the bad news?"
"You're pitching on Wednesday."
As my older relatives pass away one by one and I become part of the "new" older generation I am consoled by the thought that these family members are reunited on the other side and that their legacy, by intention or not, are the children and the beautiful giant crazy family that they created. May they all rest in peace.
They both enjoyed Army life and got to travel to parts of the world that they otherwise may have not been able to see at that time.
