Josephine and Spartico

Family has been on my mind a lot lately, and in filling out the application for a passport today I had to go look at some documents relating to my parents. One thing led to another and I ended up looking at some old journal entries, one of which I am posting this morning, written in November of 2001.

How can I put into words all that my mother and father meant to me? There is no doubt in my mind that everything that I am, everything that I have accomplished, and everything that I may accomplish, I owe to them. I was blessed with a mother and father and a large, warm extended family that provided an unending source of love and nurturing. I had the good fortune of growing up feeling good about myself, something that sadly is not afforded to all children.

I want to write about them, but can’t. Although my mother as been dead for 11 years, and my father for 7 years, I still cannot bring myself to try to put their lives to words. There are none I can call forth that will do justice to who they were and to all that they meant to me.

Mom.....wise and perceptive...especially regarding people...imensely creative...fun loving...caring....bold and courageous....unafraid of the unknown....uncomplaining....encouraging...putting others’ needs before her own, to a fault.

Dad...warm and caring....generous...family above everything...passionate about politics, gardening, and anything Italian....always a farmer....to the left of liberal...anticlerical.

Neither of them pretentuous...they were real and unassuming with no need to pretend or to impress...everyone was treated the same way-with warmth and respect.

Josephine and Spartaco

I am 68 years old, and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of my parents. (My mother died in December, 1991, and my father in the autumn of 1995.) I don’t know if this is unusual for someone my age, if it is because I was an only child, or if it is because I am such a sentimental softy. I suspect the real reason is because they were such remarkable people, and that they gave me so much. Ironically, with all the writing that I do, writing about them is very difficult for me. Perhaps because I’m afraid I will not do them the justice they deserve.

What follows is one way around this obstacle.

THIS I BELIEVE

I believe that I am the person I am because of my mother and father.

I believe that what I have accomplished of any worth, and may yet accomplish, is due to my parents.

I believe that anything of value that I may pass on to my children is simply what my parents gave to me.

I believe my parents taught me about love. They taught me about tolerance and forgiveness, and they taught me about humility. My parents showed me that a person of worth treats everyone with the same respect and warmth and that your behavior toward others is not determined by their socioeconomic status.

I believe that the greatest of the many gifts they bestowed upon me was a sense
of self worth and self esteem, which have allowed me to take the paths I have followed in my life.

I believe that my life is a reflection on my mother and father, and therefore attempt to conduct myself in a way that will honor them. I want to be worthy of the gifts they gave me.

I believe all of this with every fiber of my being.