Rich wrote those words in a scrapbook sixty years ago, not knowing the life that lay ahead of him and how many lives he will have touched by the time he was done.
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11 entries.
Growing up, I visited Uncle Rich's home for many reasons. Knowing his cop background, I knew he was not the one to mess with.
A brief background: my family and I are deaf and use sign language as a primary language. My uncle knew very small gestures, we often communicated through texts (paper/pen, notepad, etc) or through my mom whom can speak pretty well.
One afternoon, my mom was packing up to leave back to our home. She asked my (bratty) brother and I to go sit in the car and wait. We were maybe 8 and 9 years old. My brother started something in the car as usual. I came out of the vehicle to tattle on him to my mom. My uncle was the one who came out of the front door (oh shit! yeah) and saw me incoming. He thought I was rebelling and I couldn't explain what I was doing (for right reason) as he won't fully understand my signing.. before I know it, he grabbed me and pulled me in the air to his face level, I was in awe like it was a cool experience. I remember this vividly clear, I got a better grasp of his face close up. He started speaking/yelling, and I had to wait in the air before I resume to my goal (to tattle). I could catch a few words out of his mouth "NO… YOU STAY CAR… MOM SAID… BAD… LISTEN.." and when he put me down. I wasn't scared or upset, instead marched proudly to my mom to report on my brother and now on Uncle Rich too because he yelled at wrong kid. He ran behind and tried to get me back in the car. It was my proudest moment, like I defied a strict man!
Another recent memory, I came to visit him with my grandma (his sister) and my fiancée. Growing up, I always beg to drive the golf cart but he wouldn't let me, because of my age. Until recent visit, I was nervous to ask because no was his favorite word during my upbringing. Yet, he chuckled, and say go on! So I hopped on quickly and took many videos to show him afterward. One of the video was, me walking close up to the pond to capture a baby alligator, he rolled his eye and laughed.
His house was my favorite adventure (delicious food, games, golf cart, visiting alligators in the pond, oh and many things)!
A brief background: my family and I are deaf and use sign language as a primary language. My uncle knew very small gestures, we often communicated through texts (paper/pen, notepad, etc) or through my mom whom can speak pretty well.
One afternoon, my mom was packing up to leave back to our home. She asked my (bratty) brother and I to go sit in the car and wait. We were maybe 8 and 9 years old. My brother started something in the car as usual. I came out of the vehicle to tattle on him to my mom. My uncle was the one who came out of the front door (oh shit! yeah) and saw me incoming. He thought I was rebelling and I couldn't explain what I was doing (for right reason) as he won't fully understand my signing.. before I know it, he grabbed me and pulled me in the air to his face level, I was in awe like it was a cool experience. I remember this vividly clear, I got a better grasp of his face close up. He started speaking/yelling, and I had to wait in the air before I resume to my goal (to tattle). I could catch a few words out of his mouth "NO… YOU STAY CAR… MOM SAID… BAD… LISTEN.." and when he put me down. I wasn't scared or upset, instead marched proudly to my mom to report on my brother and now on Uncle Rich too because he yelled at wrong kid. He ran behind and tried to get me back in the car. It was my proudest moment, like I defied a strict man!
Another recent memory, I came to visit him with my grandma (his sister) and my fiancée. Growing up, I always beg to drive the golf cart but he wouldn't let me, because of my age. Until recent visit, I was nervous to ask because no was his favorite word during my upbringing. Yet, he chuckled, and say go on! So I hopped on quickly and took many videos to show him afterward. One of the video was, me walking close up to the pond to capture a baby alligator, he rolled his eye and laughed.
His house was my favorite adventure (delicious food, games, golf cart, visiting alligators in the pond, oh and many things)!
My dad could come off as a very serious guy. He had been a cop for many years, stayed in the security industry for the rest of his career and liked routine. But underneath that veneer he had a really "sick" sense of humor, as he would say.
At my wedding my dad and I were standing in a corner waiting to walk down the aisle together. He could sense I was nervous. I could tell he wanted to use that special moment he and I were sharing to impart some last words of wisdom. And that's exactly what he did. He looped my arm through his, and said to me, "It gets easier the more times you do it".
The next thing I knew, we were moving down the aisle, a shared laugh still on our lips.
At my wedding my dad and I were standing in a corner waiting to walk down the aisle together. He could sense I was nervous. I could tell he wanted to use that special moment he and I were sharing to impart some last words of wisdom. And that's exactly what he did. He looped my arm through his, and said to me, "It gets easier the more times you do it".
The next thing I knew, we were moving down the aisle, a shared laugh still on our lips.
Before Rich and I got married, he bought a coconut and a pineapple at the grocery store and proudly presented them to me. He was so openly excited to learn about our Philippine culture he always made it a point to do all the research etc and he always tried his best to make the young and naive Filipina have a little taste of home. Well this was New York in the 70s and let’s just say tropical fruits one found in the grocery stores didn’t quite hit the mark. So he comes home with an OLD coconut that was thick and very hard. Apparently people bought those and just chewed them like jerky. The pineapple was green and extremely sour. With a lot of excitement he asked me what I thought of the coconut to which I replied: “Back home, coconut like that was either made into copra or fed to the pigs”. All said in jest which, Rich being Rich, just took in the spirit it was delivered. Pineapple: sorry. Sour as a lemon.
Fast forward to when we went to Cebu to get married and:
1. He finally tasted young coconut with the very soft and fine “meat”, juice sweet enough to just slurp. Exactly what the natives enjoyed.
2. For our honeymoon we spent a few days at the DelMonte plantation where my uncle worked for many years. He took us out to the pineapple fields one day, took out the trusty knife he was never without, cut a pineapple, peeled it right there and then and gave us chunks to try. The pineapple was warm from the sun, sweet as sweet can be and we feasted with the juice running down our chins.
Richi’s comment : Now I understand.
To add to this little core memory: when we first arrived in Cebu for our wedding, driving home from the airport, he kept looking up at the sky. I asked him what he was doing that for and his answer: “looking for the pineapple trees”.
Brooklyn boy, you were truly one of a kind and you will be forever loved and missed. Enjoy the pineapple FIELDS and climb all the coconut trees up there.
Fast forward to when we went to Cebu to get married and:
1. He finally tasted young coconut with the very soft and fine “meat”, juice sweet enough to just slurp. Exactly what the natives enjoyed.
2. For our honeymoon we spent a few days at the DelMonte plantation where my uncle worked for many years. He took us out to the pineapple fields one day, took out the trusty knife he was never without, cut a pineapple, peeled it right there and then and gave us chunks to try. The pineapple was warm from the sun, sweet as sweet can be and we feasted with the juice running down our chins.
Richi’s comment : Now I understand.
To add to this little core memory: when we first arrived in Cebu for our wedding, driving home from the airport, he kept looking up at the sky. I asked him what he was doing that for and his answer: “looking for the pineapple trees”.
Brooklyn boy, you were truly one of a kind and you will be forever loved and missed. Enjoy the pineapple FIELDS and climb all the coconut trees up there.