697. The last Passover plate taken away from a generation 3 29 2015

03/29/2015

697 The last Passover plate taken away from a generation 3 29 2015

I learned within the hour my Nana passed away. She lived a nice and long life. She was 95 years old.

My Pa was 1 of 8 and my Nana was 1 of 7 and now a generation of my family is no longer with us.

My Nana wasn’t your typical “little old Jewish lady” She wasn’t a lady at all. She expected to be treated like a queen and when she wasn’t the first at something or something wasn’t prepared exactly how she wanted it, you would know. She always had to look good. She always cared about her hair and what she was wearing. She never liked flowery, girly things. She did have a college degree which in her generation was unheard of for women.

Although most of my memories of her, had my Pa by her side, I would like to share a couple of my early memories of her.

Most of my early life, they lived in a gated community that had a pool, workout room and a pool table room. Another thing the community had was a man-made lake with a waterfall. I remember walking to the lake with my Nana on warm days, walking half way around the lake by my Nana’s side, just chatting and we would sit on a bench and enjoy the warm sun, the sound of the waterfall and the beauty of the surroundings. (Yes, this is back when I had good vision)

I also remember she would always have a big tin of cookies. The one that had the wax paper cups where each “cup” had a different stack of cookie in them. Actually, my memory also recalls that she always had the Flinstone vitamins for us to each have one whenever we would come over.

My mom was against guns of any type. She even refused us to have GI JOE’S in the house. However, Nana was more than OK with it. I’m not sure how we had so many, but we would set it all up in their living room and play.

I had a great understanding, a great level of communication with my Nana. There was many times, especially in the last year or so, when I would visit her with my father and my Nana was trying to tell my father something but my father, instead of actually listening to her words and try to understand, he would tell her that she was wrong and when he would leave the room for something, I would go back to what my dad was talking about and answer what she didn’t understand-know and she would say “you got it Jonathan” and tap the back of my hand with her hand. That was her way of letting me know that she was smiling.

My Nana was a tough cookie. She told me once “your Nana is a tough woman. I had a route canal without any medication.”

She battled diabetes most of her life. (Maybe all her life, I don’t know, my entire life) She would prick herself as she was suppose to and she never made even a peep. It was no big deal to her.

We knew (me and her) that she really shouldn’t have many bread products but whenever I would get a salad at a restaurant, I would sneak a crouton (or two) to her. She would always pat the back of my hand, in “thank you”.

My Nana loved golf. She and my Pa were avid players and watchers of the sport. I remember one Sunday when they picked us up on a Sunday for dinner, she saying that she got a hole in one that day. She was so proud of herself. I was pretty young so I was excited because she was. I really didn’t understand the magnitude of it. I remember she would tell me about the professional golfers, tell me about how a golfer missed a simple putt and should have won. Tell me who was ahead in the year’s race. When Tiger came along, she was impressed, in awe at his ability. . She loved watching him play. She enjoyed watching perfection at a craft that she enjoyed.

I remember that when my Pa got hurt about 9 years ago and my Dad moved them back from Florida, he brought them to an assistive living place to check out. My Nana’s first reaction was “I don’t want to move here. They’re all old people here” …they would be two of the oldest though. 

I didn’t really know till her later years, like the last 10 years, that she too enjoyed watching sports. I just figured she would check in on the TV to see how we were doing or to take care of my Pa but later on, I learned that she was listening to the game or to us talking about the games. She wouldn’t really know any names but she knew who we were talking about and just like myself, her first sport was baseball. She would also watch basketball but didn’t care much for football and had no use for hockey. She said they were too rough of sports. However, my Pa played football in high school, college and even professional. My twin played HS football and my sister has been playing semi professional women’s football for 7 or so years but she didn’t have much interest. Hmmm, she did know who Tom Brady is and when we won the SB. Anyways, she and I had that baseball connection.

She always loved to hear about my traveling. Whenever I would get back from my travels, she would want to know all about it. When I would tell her that I went to a baseball game on my vacation, she would pat the back of my hand and say “Of course you did. I know you love your baseball”

When I first grew a beard, hmm maybe it was my goatee, but either, I remember her saying, after hearing my Dad not being a fan of it, she would say softly when my Dad wasn’t around “You look great with it. I like it on you. You look handsome.”

My Nana and Pa went to high school together and was married for 68? Years. Now she gets to go back with him where my Pa will treat her like she’s the only queen up there.

I know we never spoke or showed our love but your simple pats on the back of my hand, your interest in whatever I was doing, I know was your way of telling me “I love you”