Popsie

Popsie is my grandfather, he's my father's step-dad. He's full-blooded Italian. Allegedly, his family stowed away on a ship from Sicily and jumped ship in New York Harbor. (I say allegedly because the only person we have to support this story is indeed Popsie himself who had not yet graced the world with his presence.) He's an interesting man. To use the term, "You just never know what he's going to say," does not even begin to explain some of the comments that have come from this man. He and Pearl (my grandmother, we call her Granny, not Pearl) moved in with my parents in October of 2003 from Baltimore, Maryland where he'd inhabited all of his days. He's a good man though. He married my grandmother, a widow with three young children many years ago. He is an interesting addition to our family. Most of Popsie's "words of wisdom" and "insights into our soul" come after dinner while we're still sitting around the table, although there are the rare moments when you are found trapped in a conversation that's going downhill quickly. While some of you've heard a few of the comments Popsie has shared with me (and others), I decided it was time to share them with the world, enjoy!

While at dinner on night Popsie looks at my mother and says (as if I'm not sitting at the table), "You know Becky, she has really nice hair if she's just brush it once in a while." To which I replied, "Well, sometimes I just get busy and it just takes too long. I mean it's windy outside, maybe I'll just have the wind blow through my hair."

Jodie and Ashley were visiting one weekend and Popsie asks, "Well, what I want to know is, when are you girls going to get married?" J and A said, "Well, we don't know, I guess we haven't found the right guy yet." Popsie replied, "You know I hear all these girls talk about waiting around for 'the one'...it will be dooms day before he comes! You need to find a guy who will marry you and get married. You know, a guy who won't beat you much."

Another weekend when Jodie was visiting Popsie cornered me downstairs (with Jodie listening at the top of the stairs) and said, "You know it's good to have friends but you have to be careful when you bring them home. Company is expensive. You have to feed 'em, clean up after 'em, they use your water...they're expensive."

A few years ago my parents gave my grandparents a new clock for their kitchen; however, the clock was a little bigger than their original one. Popsie's response to the clock was, "Won't it take it longer to go around because it's bigger?"

Popsie said the other night, "You know what they say, the older you get the wiser you are, and then you just get stupid. Well, I think I'm a little bit of both."

I would give you some sort of introduction but I did not receive one during the original conversation. Today at lunch Popsie said, "He was a musician. Used to sing that song (Popsie singing) 'I see you babe' you know 'I see you babe'. It was a big hit. He and his wife sang it. Then, he learned how to ski. Shame on him. He went skiing and never came back. Went off the side of a mountain. He was a singer, a senator and a comedian." And that is the true story of Sonny Bono.

Popsie was giving economic advice at the dinner table a few nights ago. He used to go to the track a lot when he was younger. He said, "These guys up there, they wouldn't have no food or money for rent. They'd spend it all. Not me. I never did that. I invested my money."

While there are MANY more comments Popsie has said throughout my life that have left me to wonder, just wonder, I believe this final one goes above and beyond what I ever dreamed possible. After finding out I am moving to Washington D.C. and telling me that now I can marry a senator (to which I nearly throw up after getting a vision of Strom Thurmond) Popsie continues by sharing something I believe each of us can learn from and take with us. He said, "Now all you have to do is do your work and don't mess witd anybodies. You get messed in witd the wrong people you know like the Mob they really mess you up and they'll kill ya, shoot you and won't think nothing about it."

I will leave you with those thoughts.