"I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn't need any advice from me. With God in charge, I believe everything will work out for the best in the end. So what is there to worry about?" - Henry Ford
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Uncle Paul never worried and
simply enjoyed life, always. As a priest he was a role model to all and I
clinged on to him especially when my Grandmother Helen passed away. There
was an extreme void when ‘mama’ passed as we had such great times with her, but
the biggest void came within my mother. She lost her own Mother and quite
frankly her Father too as he only ever cared about any of us because of Mama
and that was very apparent. Uncle Paul stepped in and helped create new
memories and taught us that life goes on and that we should always enjoy it, no
matter what “don’t worry about it” he would always say!
--
Today October 14th 2012 would have
been his 80th birthday so I trolled through memories and wrote this in his
honor.
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One
of my earliest memories that I clearly remember was when Uncle Paul said a
Sunday mass at the house. I was about five years old and during the
Consecration I took note that we did not have any bells so in order to save the
mass I decided to act the bell noise out and as he held the host high I spoke
out “ring-a-ling, ring-a-ling and ring-a-ling.” That sent everyone in the
house into extreme laughter, even Uncle Paul laughed so hard he almost could
not finish mass – my debut was liked by all who laughed - except for one
person. As I enjoyed the laughter, I made eye contact with my Mother who
was not only “not amused,” she had the look on her face that said to me ‘after
mass you are in so much trouble,’ so I dodged mass and ran into the bathroom to
hide in the clothes hamper from my Mother. As I hid in the hamper
patiently, I heard my Mother come in and say “you better not come out, the most
solemn part of the mass and you verbally ring bells?” Uncle Paul quickly
came to my rescue and said to my Mother “Kathy, don’t worry about it, she is a
kid – you should focus more on the fact that she knew Mass so well and
identified that we didn't have bells, relax Kathy as I know even God
was laughing too.” As I heard my mother walk away I saw a glimmer of
light as Uncle Paul opened the hamper and said “come on, get out of the
hamper.” I replied, “Is it safe?” He answered “yes, don’t worry
about it – good job and I’ll bring the bells next time.”
--
It was not uncommon to come
home from school and find Uncle Paul napping on the sofa. He would pop in
often surprisingly for dinner and family time. My Mother enjoyed his
company and at the same time thought to herself “great not only to I have to
‘cook’ but this man will take my seat on the sofa while he naps.” While I
would pester Uncle Paul as he tried to rest, my Mother ‘cooked’ dinner meaning
she would call Melonis and order a home cooked meal. After two-minutes of
slaving on the phone to prepare dinner, it finally arrived and she would call
all of us into the kitchen. Uncle Paul navigated from the sofa to a chair
at the kitchen table and as he sat down he would always say “Oh, so good to sit
down.”
--
When I was in High School,
Uncle Paul came over for the weekend and about 8PM I said “good night to
all.” Uncle Paul replied, “Already?” I said “yes, I have an early
5AM run in the morning.” He replied, “I’ll join you, BUT if I am not at
the kitchen table when you leave – feel free to start without me.” Such a
jokester he was!
--
One of the final and perhaps
greatest memories I have of Uncle Paul was when he took me to Seattle to see
the west coast family. Wonderful vacation does not even begin to describe
the time we had and that is a separate writing in itself. The hospitality
of my west coast peeps was truly remarkable and many memories were created that
I am forever grateful for.
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