Joe Schumski is 90 today
Dec. 18th, 2008 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janradderWhen I was a kid my grandfather used to tell my sister and I about how he learned to make scrambled eggs. He was out picking mushrooms in the woods one day when he got lost. He wandered around for hours looking for his way back. Having given up all hope of ever seeing home again, he stumbled into a clearing. There, stood an Indian. He asked the Indian if he could help him find his way out of the woods. "Sure," said the Indian. "But first, I'm going to teach you to make scrambled eggs." Which he did. And after the two of them ate the scrambled eggs, the Indian showed my grandfather the way home.
For years, my grandfather would insist that this story was, in fact, absolutely true. No matter how much we insisted that it could in no way have happened, he stuck by the facts. Sort of like how he always claimed to have forgotten how to wiggle his ears until you finally gave up pestering. And then he'd wiggle them. Then, when you said that he'd wiggled them, he'd answer, "How could I? I told you I don't remember how to wiggle my ears." And then you'd start all over again.
I try to be as much like my grandfather as I can. I tell kids ridiculous stories and insist that they're true. I crack jokes and say silly things. I make absurd statements and stand by them as facts. I insist that no matter how much they're tickling me, I am not ticklish and refuse to laugh. I also try to be as gentle as he is.
When I was growing up, my father wasn't around a lot and, because we lived so close to my grandparents and my sister and I spent our summers with them, my grandfather became my father figure. He taught me how to fish and how to drive a boat. He taught me how to plant ad tend to a garden. He taught me how to be quiet and listen. He taught me that it's okay for men to do housework and to take pride in what I do. He taught me to love baseball and the Red Sox. He taught me to enjoy good food. He taught me to be a kind and loving father and husband.
I love my grandfather more than I can say. When I think of what kind of man I want to be, it is his example that I try to follow because I really can't think of a better man in my life.
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haddayr likes to tell me a story about my grandfather from the time we traveled out to Connecticut with the boys. Arie was a little over three at the time and he was playing near the couch where my grandfather was watching the Red Sox game on the television. "He looked over at Arie," Haddayr says, "and smiled. And when he smiled at Arie, he looked just like you."
Happy birthday, Grandpa.
For years, my grandfather would insist that this story was, in fact, absolutely true. No matter how much we insisted that it could in no way have happened, he stuck by the facts. Sort of like how he always claimed to have forgotten how to wiggle his ears until you finally gave up pestering. And then he'd wiggle them. Then, when you said that he'd wiggled them, he'd answer, "How could I? I told you I don't remember how to wiggle my ears." And then you'd start all over again.
I try to be as much like my grandfather as I can. I tell kids ridiculous stories and insist that they're true. I crack jokes and say silly things. I make absurd statements and stand by them as facts. I insist that no matter how much they're tickling me, I am not ticklish and refuse to laugh. I also try to be as gentle as he is.
When I was growing up, my father wasn't around a lot and, because we lived so close to my grandparents and my sister and I spent our summers with them, my grandfather became my father figure. He taught me how to fish and how to drive a boat. He taught me how to plant ad tend to a garden. He taught me how to be quiet and listen. He taught me that it's okay for men to do housework and to take pride in what I do. He taught me to love baseball and the Red Sox. He taught me to enjoy good food. He taught me to be a kind and loving father and husband.
I love my grandfather more than I can say. When I think of what kind of man I want to be, it is his example that I try to follow because I really can't think of a better man in my life.
haddayr likes to tell me a story about my grandfather from the time we traveled out to Connecticut with the boys. Arie was a little over three at the time and he was playing near the couch where my grandfather was watching the Red Sox game on the television. "He looked over at Arie," Haddayr says, "and smiled. And when he smiled at Arie, he looked just like you."Happy birthday, Grandpa.
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