memories

This has been a week of memories.

First, Monday was the feast day of Saint Stanislaus. My Grandpa’s name was Stanley (in Polish that’s Stanislaw or Stanislaus). This made me think of and miss him. He passed away in August of 2004; it will be seven years this year. I, as well as my whole family still miss him. As I was getting Matthew ready for the day I was telling him about his Great-Grandpa and how he was named after him.

Okay, I know I just said that my Grandpa’s name was Stanley, so let me explain. My Grandpa’s family immigrated to the US right before he was born. They didn’t maintain birth records as accurately recorded as they do these days; he didn’t have a birth certificate. When he and my Grandma decided to get married he finally got one. He went by a few different names growing up. When they got the certificate he went with Stanley, but my Grandma fondly recalls him being called Matty. Thus, the inspiration for our baby’s name….

Matty sitting in "Swany". The swan rocker my Grandpa made for me when I was Matty's age.

Tuesday Tony and I were driving home from grocery shopping. The song “Stuck in the Middle With You” came on the radio. (Warning! Crazy, cascading thoughts and conversation to follow) Tony was on my left so I called him a clown, as the song says. This led into a discussion of how some people are afraid of clowns, and why that is. This led to me remembering how Galen wanted to buy a ‘creepy clown’ and put it outside Nicki’s house for Halloween. Poor Nicki is scared to death of clowns, however Galen thought this would be really funny. We discussed how we should follow through on his wishes, but decided that we would need to warn Josh (her husband) ahead of time to ensure we don’t get shot.

Today marks four months since Galen has passed away. Every month on the 14th the whole family gets together for dinner. Tonight we’re all planning on meeting at a restaurant downtown. It’s nice to be able to share time together and remember good times with Galen. We all miss him.

Matty is also named after Galen and Tony. All three of them share the same middle name, Ross.

Matty sitting in G-Pa's favorite chair playing with the plane he brought him back from Japan.

We all miss those whom we’ve lost, but we know that they’re all watching over us.