Wow, It’s been 2 years!

Not sure why I finally decided to start blogging again, after being away for 2 years.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that my Dad recently passed away (June 10th.)  I guess I never thought that it would ever happen.  He was 89, and still getting around pretty well.  In fact that was sort of our family joke… That Grandpa Abruzzese would live forever, or at the very least, to be 100.  I realized about a week after the funeral, just how much I missed having him around .  I think I mentioned once before, that my dad was afraid to die…but those last several days before he showed such bravery.  I think he knew ( in the back of his mind) that he might die, but he put up such  a good fight.  He wasn’t going without making sure every detail was taken care of, including us, his children.  He loved having all 4 of us there by his bedside ( he told us so).  My dad was not a big talker, or a very openly affectionate man.  But those last 2 weeks, he made an exception.  He kissed us everyday that we went to see him, and told us that he loved us.  I’d always known that, but it was so sweet to hear.  He talked a lot about my mother,Stella.  He told us a lot of war stories, that we had never really heard before.  He was from a generation that found it hard to talk about all the horrors of World War II.  But I guess he figured that he’d better tell us things that he’d always wanted too, but never got around to telling us.  My favorite story was about how the ship that he’d been on ( in the south Pacific) had almost been bombed and destroyed by Kamikazi (sp?) pilots.  He said that they were ordered to go below deck, when the battle started.  But my dad thought to himself that he would surely die if a pane hit the ship, and he was below deck.  so he fought with  whoever it was giving the orders and he and a pal of his went back up on deck.  Well he told us that he saw the Kamikazi plane come so close that he could see the pilot’s face, and that then at the last second the plane turned and hit the ship next to his.    He actually told this story to my son, Thomas first, then Tom made him tell the rest of us.  He had several stories like that one…  I loved him , and was proud to have him as my Dad.  Well, that’s all for now…goodnight