As many of you know, earlier this month we lost our Pop-pop (Louis Massari). What a sad time to be so far from home...I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of our favorite memories of the wonderful man at the center of our family. I chose this picture as opposed to one of just him because it most accurately depicts who he was: always taking care of everyone else before himself, the heart of us all. His birthday was the one time the entire family came together, no matter what. It was an event to look forward to. Each summer my sisters and I would get to spend a week at Nana and Pop-pop's house in Lansdowne, PA. We would sit on the porch with Pop-pop just about every night we were there. He would be wearing pants because he always wore pants, no matter how hot it was! In the evenings he would tell us to turn the light on when we were reading and to not sit so close to the TV. He was always especially concerend with our eyes. When we weren't at their house, they were down at ours - dance recitials, field hockey games, babysitting, or just visiting. One of my favorite memories of Pop-pop is the way as soon as soon as he got to our house he spent the next thirty minutes going around to every plant, pruning it and exclaiming to my mom that she was over watering them! He always brought new plants down with him hoping that she would be able to make this new one live.
It was such a special treat every time Nana and Pop-pop babysat because it not only meant Jo and John's for dinner, but McDonald's hot fudge sundays. They were one of his favorite treats to take us out for and since we weren't "allowed" to have stuff like that it was extra special.
I especially loved when Pop-pop was building and carving things. He could fix anything you needed fixed and he made just about everything that could be made out of wood. He just took it down the basement and voila! Who can forget the year of the peach pit rings?! They were so cool. Jeanna and I used to fight over the pretty, darker one.
My mom remembers sitting on his lap while he read the newspaper when she was little and that he never let her miss a day of school. Seriously she had perfect attendance from kindergarten though 12th grade and he was so proud. He taught her to swim at the pool and in the ocean, timed at her swim meets, and always came by the pool after work to get his lemon water ice before going home.
And how can my dad forget him watching out the blinds looking to see if mom was home from a date yet?!
I have my favorite gift from Pop-pop every where I go. It has been in each place I've lived, including now in Australia. It is the clock he made for many of us. Now the chimes every 15 minutes have an even more special meaning.
4 comments:
The tribute to Pop-pop on your blog is beautiful! Thank you so much for such wonderful memories. He has had such a huge impact on all of our lives in his quiet, simple manner that influenced us so much. He loved taking care of everyone and he hated that he was not able to do that anymore. You really captured the essence of the great man that he was. His spirit will live on in each one of us.
Thank you for sharing this Melissa. It sounds as if your Pop-pop was a very special family man.
Fitting tribute for a very nice man.Brought a tear to my eye...GOD Bless.
If you two ever lose your current jobs, you both have a niche in writing. Enjoying the blog and "adventure" with you. THANKS for taking so much time to share it with us avid readers.
What a nice tribute. Thanks for sharing.
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