LIKE YESTERDAY

So it seems. We used to go to work together, travel together, did everything together. I named one of my sons after him, and my other son has his name in the mix too.

Dad is gone, and it is 19 years, and today he would have been 94 years old had he lived. But he still lives on in my memories. He had a great sense of humor, would tease the hell out of mom, or me, and even his own mother. He as a very accepting person, didn’t matter who you were, you were always welcomed. He loved TLW, thought she was too good for me (I really don’t think he believed that, just said it to make me mad), and treated her like she was someone special. (She is.)

He loved my kids, but then he loved all his grandchildren, and they loved him back. He left a big tome of ‘Tonyisms’, which we still fondly laugh at, and to this day, I can still picture him in his knobby knees in summer shorts and black dress socks and shoes, bringing over tickets for his beloved Mets.

Dad love to sit at the table, with a meal Mom prepared, and all his children, spouses and grandchildren present. It made his day, his life, his being. He enjoyed the simplest of things, and never went too far to find them.

He was born of humble beginnings, his real father died of Spanish influenza during WW I, and by the time he was three, his dad was gone. My grandfather was so fond of him that he literally jumped out of a hospital window during a snowstorm to go see his kids!

Dad, Tony they called him, was cheap, very cheap, with himself and with us. We never got cars or educations paid for, never were given allowances and the only thing he gave us were: advice. If my may quote some of it: “Go to work”, and his most famous: “Go ask your mother.”

But even his cheapness was forgiven. During the summertime, when I would be on the streets of Brooklyn, playing with my friends, Dad would go by, and I’d ask for a dime, and without hesitation, he would reach in his side pocket, and dig one out.

He would make my poor brother-in-law into a cheap-o, when he was not necessarily so, because he didn’t give more to my sister. He was just “bustin chops” as we used to say. At his beloved Rollic, where he worked, he was affectionately known as Tony, and all I ever heard was what a great guy he was. How true!

So Dad, if you thought that by now I would forget you, guess again, I haven’t forgotten you in the least bit. Happy birthday Dad, we all love you. I know it comes from all of your kids, spouses and grandchildren. You weren’t perfect for everybody, just us.

And now that we celebrate your birthday today, your latest great grandchild decided to join us on your special day, a year ago, and so you share a birthday with Alexander Schneider!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA AND AL!