Summer in the City

It has been one hot summer so far. Many record breaking temperature days. All this hot weather reminds me of growing up in the old neighborhood. You would get up early and go outside looking for a game of baseball or get your bike and go for a ride, someplace far, maybe to Belmont Plateau. Sometimes you would just sit on the corner and play pinochle, while eating water ice and pretzels. If you were lucky , Father Carbo would take you and a few others to St. Charles Seminary to swim in their olympic pool. Other times we would walk to
Shanahan swim club, and go swimming there. You had to be careful while in the water that "Brutus" didn't grab you and pull you under.
I think the most fun times was when they would turn on the fire hydrant.
Someone would get a wrench and two or three others would go half way up the block as lookouts, to make sure no police were around, and then turn on the fire plug. The water would come gushing out, cold and invigorating, and everyone would be there to enjoy it. The old ladies would come out with their brooms and sweep the sidewalk and scrub the stoops. Those who had a car would get a bucket and start washing it. We had our own water park in the city. Girls would stroll by and dare the guys not to get them wet, they didn't want their hair messed up. It never worked, someone would always get "dunked". After complaining, they walked away feeling popular, they were noticed.
It's funny, no matter how old you get, you can still remember the good times
like they were yesterday. The fire plug always seemed to be a highlight of the hot summer days of my youth. I don't ever remember anything bad when the plug was turned on, just the sounds of kids playing and water gushing.
Eventually, the police would come and turn off the fire plug, leaving everybody sad but satisfyingly cool.
A couple hours later, the lookouts would be back out .

Father's Day Gifts

Every year at this time we celebrate Father's Day. My Dad is no longer here but I think of him very often. I can still see his face when I do something that's not right ,or when I need advice, I hear his voice. When my brothers and sisters were young we used to get Dad gifts, most were things he would never find a use for, but he was always appreciative of them. He would always tell us that the best gift we could give him was to be good kids and don't get in trouble, get good grades and make something of ourselves.
I am the father of a son and a daughter. I used to get all those same kind of gifts that I had a hard time finding uses for. I found myself repeating my Father's words to my children, be good, get good grades, make something of yourself. The best gift a Father can receive, is for his children to follow his advice.
On this Father's day, my daughter and son, will go crazy trying to find something I can use. What they don't know is that they have given me what every father wants. They are very successful, they are college graduates, they make decent money, they have good jobs, and most of all they have become productive citizens of our society. They have followed their father's advice. They have no idea how proud I am of them, how they have matured into a fine young man and a fine young woman. Every where I go I receive compliments from
people who have met them. They tell me what great kids they are, polite and sociable and mannerly. They tell me how lucky I am. The thing is I know it.
So this Father's Day, I will accept their gifts and try to find a use for them, and I will look at them and politely say thanks. When I go to sleep at night, I will smile to myself and thank God for the best father's day gift one could get,
a son and a daughter who are the pride and joy of my life.

Memorial Day

Every year around Memorial Day the cable stations are filled with stories and movies about war and the men and women who fought them. Most of the movies show us the romance and glory and excitement that war brings. Growing up I loved watching them, I couldn't get enough. I especially loved the ones with John Wayne and the Marines. They always seemed to be able to do what it took to get the job done. Of course, John Wayne, was a movie star and never actually served in the military. His movies however, helped contribute quite a lot to the war efforts during his lifetime.
Memorial Day is a time we should be reflecting on those who gave their lives for our country. We have lost many many young men and young women for the ambitions and ideals of world government leaders. These young men and women were usually seventeen to nineteen years old. In the beginning they were in love with the excitement and glory. When they saw the reality of war, the carnage and destruction, they became a changed person. They fought to stay alive and keep their brothers in arms alive. Sadly, this did not happen.
So many were gone prematurely, never to raise a family or become a contributing member to our society. How many of these people could have become president or senator or a doctor, the finder of the cure for cancer.
Endless possibilities for not only these people but for society as a whole. We have lost generations to the tragedy of war.
I still enjoy watching war movies, I don't find war glorious or exciting. I pray someday there will be no wars. This Memorial Day and all Memorial Days I will give thanks to those who gave all and I will pray for them and I will pray that they are the last to know the carnage of war.

Music Memories

As you walk into the building you notice the dancers doing their thing to the music of their youth. Except for a few, most are in step with the beat and all are concentrating hard to perform the next turn or sway of the dance. After a few songs the word spreads that it is time to go inside of the hall and take your seat.
As you settle in, everyone starts waving hello, they want you to see where they are sitting , as if to say my seat is better than yours. The lights start to go dim and all are swept up in the anticipation that the show is about to begin.
When the stage lights come on the band starts to play. You recognize the music of the famous DJ, that you grew up listening to. Out on the stage he comes, very dapper in his Flyers jacket, and immediately he transforms the crowd into teenagers. He calls out their names and starts telling stories about the music and groups you are about to hear. Everyone is smiling and feeling good. For the next three hours you are taken back to the streets where you grew up. You can visualize the old neighborhood, and the boyfriends and girlfriends that you knew such a long time ago. Every song brings back some kind of memory, whether it was happy or sad. You remember where you were and what you were doing when the song first came out over that transistor radio. He is so right when he tells you that the music will always live on. It is part of us all. Think of all the times you are driving around in your car or are working in the house, or just relaxing in the yard. There is always a song that comes on and takes you back to a more simpler and less stressful time of your life. Songs that fill us with memories of loves and lovers lost. We all have one song that reminds us of that one person who was a part of our life.
When the show was over and everyone starts to file out of the hall, you can still see the teenager in their eyes. For the rest of the night, they forget their troubles and remember how it used to be.

The Voice

For the first time in over 32 years, I am unemployed. The company I worked for has been sold and has gone out of business. I now find myself in a strange situation of not having someplace to go when I get up in the morning. Most people who know of my predictment tell me I should sign unemployment and relax and enjoy the summer. It sounds like a good idea. I keep thinking of all the fun things I can do, like golf or enjoy the pool, go to the shore. My head says I should do it, but deep down inside there is a voice that tells me what I have to do. I keep hearing my dad, telling me over and over, how a man is supposed to provide for his family. A man doesn't have the time to take long vacations, especially when there is no paycheck coming in. He taught me a strong work ethic, and it is something that he instilled in me and I have tried to live by my whole life.
I will sign up for unemployment, but I will also be out there hunting for a job.
Who knows maybe I will find something rewarding and will last a long long time.

An important person

There are so many important and famous people in the world that we all look up to. We spend quite a bit of our time trying to emulate them. We try to dress like them, purchase items they advertise, we sometimes go as far as getting surgery to look like they do. There is one person however, who is more important and should be even more famous and that is MOM.
Think of Mom, she carried us in her womb and nurtured us when we were born. She taught us how to talk and walk and how to eat. She set an example to
show us how to behave and how to get along with everyone we came in contact with. Yes there are Dads out there that also did these things, but the main teacher in our lives has been Mom.
Dad went to work, Mom made sure we got to school on time, looked presentable, and did the disciplining when it was called for. There were six words you never heard in my house growing up "Wait till your Father gets home." Lets face it Mom ran the show. Dads are important but Mom is the ultimate. She is the alpha and omega.
This Sunday we honor all Moms, but they should be honored everyday. Mom is without a doubt the most important person, we have ever come in contact with in our lives. So if you want to emulate a famous or important person, try your Mom, but I don't think I would look too good if I dressed like her...........

Understanding Grandchildren

Everyone I know that has grandchildren, tell me that it is so much different than being a parent. I believe I figured out why they say this. When I first became a parent I thought of so many things I wanted to do and share with my children. Somehow things were never the way I had planned. I didn't ignore my kids, or not treat them well and they were never really deprived of anything.
As they grew older, my responsibilities as a parent grew . I just didn't have the time to share like I wanted to because I was busy working to provide for them and their mom. Some times I just couldn't be there for them, like a ball game or dance class, because I had to work. It is a "catch 22" you want to be with them, but you need to work to provide for them.
Now my children are grown and on their own and have their own responsibilities. I still have responsibilities but I also have more time and a little more money than I did then. That is the difference. I can give as much time as I want to my grandchildren. I can treat them and spoil them so much more than I did my children. I worry and care about their well being, but their father now has the duty to provide for them.
It is easier now to take time off and give up extras all for the grandkids. I
can give more of myself to them. So now I understand what my grandparent friends say, it is easier and a lot more fun. Besides, when they get cranky and
restless, I can give them back to their parents and go home to my quiet house.