RobinRTrueJoy
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*R.I.P. George_Garfield_Andress (Grandpop)
New Years has always been a mixed bag of emotions for a lot of people. In one way, most people look back on the past year and either feel happy that it's over, or feel sad that it has to come to an end. Usually, it's easy for almost anyone to be optimistic about the coming year thinking of all the wrongs they're going to right, or all of the resolutions they may or may not keep. However, for me now, New Years day will always have a different meaning.
Today, January 1st 2008 at 8:45 PM my Grandfather passed away at the age of 79 after years of battling many illnesses. He now can be with my Grandmother, who died way too young at the age of 58. Grandpop was the leader, the rock, of the family. Always the funny man, yet never ashamed to show his feelings. He invented the quote "hugs are the best" and he lived by that motto. He was, as I've quoted before, the "last true family man." Everything that I've done so far in my life, I did it in hopes that one person was watching and proud of me. Him. He and my Grandmother were like second parents to me and my brother as we were growing up, and though my sister was not born yet when my Grandmother passed, it was always known by my Grandpop that she was sent here by my Grandmother. Grandpop was the greatest. And now with great sadness and pride, I'd like to share a couple memories of my hero with the people who care to read them.
*He was the Father of 6 children and husband of only 1, his soul mate and the woman of his dreams, my Grandmother. He loved her like nothing else I'd ever seen, even in movies. The kind of love he had for my Grandmother is the kind of love I hope to find some day.
*He served in the United States Navy and worked many jobs to supply enough money to pay for his 6 children and all of their different interests, most notably their pets. The Andress household may have held a world record for the amount of pets they had over the years. You name a dog breed and I bet they had one at one point. My Aunt Robin was and still is very in love with the hobby of caring for horses, and wouldn't you believe that she had one when she was a little girl. My Grandfather worked countless hours to cover those stable bills and pay for all of the pets' food. He would stop at nothing to make his kids and wife happy.
*In the early parts of my life, during my first stint of living in Philadelphia, I went to Disston Elementary School, located a few blocks from my Grandfather's house. To make it convenient for my mom and dad at the time, my brother and I went to that school and used my Grandparent's address as our home address so that we could walk home from school every day and they oculd watch us until our mom got out of work. What if he wasn't as kind as he was? And my parents would have had to put us in a different school or an after school facility until they could come pick us up? Well then I may have never went to Disston and met George and Eric, 2 of the best friends a guy could ask for.
*When I was 6 years old my mom and Grandparents took me to Torresdale Boys Club in NE Philly to sign up for little kids Double-A Baseball. It was the kind where the kids all took the field but when they batted, they faced a pitching machine. Well anyway, after seeing all of the kids and different people at signups, I cried my eyes out until my mom would take me home and I said I didn't want to signup and play because I was shy and quiet. Well my mom took me to Grandmom and Grandpops house and they told her to turn right back around and sign me up for baseball, saying I need to give it a shot and you never know if you'll like something until you try it. Give it a shot they said. And if you don't like it, well you can't quit, but then the next year you don't have to play. I cried some more as my mom drove me back and signed me up. 17 years later I'm preparing to play my 17th straight year of baseball. Baseball has become the love of my life and I owe it all to my Grandparents.
*When I was 10 I broke my arm in 3 places wrestling with my friends. 6 weeks later I got my cast off. My grandfather took me to the doctor that day to get the cast removed and after it was removed I remember how scared I was because my arm looked so strange and different as I hadn't experienced a broken bone before. Grandpop was there to take care of me. He took me home after the doctors and told me that I'll be back to normal in a couple days and it'll be like it was never even broken. Oh and did I mention he stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home and bought me a dozen of my favorite doughnut, the vanilla powdered vanilla cream ones, for me and handed them to me in the passenger's seat. Oh and on top of the box was a $100 bill. He was the best.
*One of the coolest stories Grandpop ever told me was of when he was in the Navy. One day he was sitting on the deck of a huge Naval ship reading a letter my Grandmother had wrote him, that included a picture of her. Some guy walked up behind him and while noticing the picture said "Hey, who's the bitch?" My Grandfather punched him and gave the guy a black eye on the spot. You were to talk to ladies with respect, especially his lady.
*When I was 13 and my parents had split and we had moved back to Philly, we lived in a small apartment on a not so great street. We weren't doing well in the money category now that we had just my mom's income to rely on. Grandpop still came over every Sunday night for dinner. Even if he didn't come for dinner, on any day he was known to make surprise visits at our house with bags of food, meat to put in our freezer, or boxes upon boxes of snacks for us kids to enjoy, because he knew the rough time we were going through. He'd stop by right before dinner with our family favorite back then, Boston Market, and I remember how excited we were. Also, while my mom was going through divorce and other problems on her own, Grandpop would leave notes on her car windshield. They'd say things like "Keep going babe, you can do anything. You're the best!"
*I remember going through college and hitting my rough spots. I'd go and talk to Grandpop saying how I can't do it anymore and I'm not cut out for the college life. He'd look me in the eye and tell me how much he believed in me, telling me that I wasn't to give up and as long as I had my brain, I could do anything.
I'm pretty drained right now from a long day, but I wanted to get these current and everlasting thoughts into writing asap. I wanted as many people to know about the fighter that my Grandfather was. He battled sickness for many years and I truly believe that during his recent battle, he hung on long enough to be able to still be around with us for the holidays. I ask for all of your prayers for my family because there's a lot of us, and some may not take this as well as others. Thanks for listening and reading along if you made it this far.
Rest in Peace Grandpop
New Years has always been a mixed bag of emotions for a lot of people. In one way, most people look back on the past year and either feel happy that it's over, or feel sad that it has to come to an end. Usually, it's easy for almost anyone to be optimistic about the coming year thinking of all the wrongs they're going to right, or all of the resolutions they may or may not keep. However, for me now, New Years day will always have a different meaning.
Today, January 1st 2008 at 8:45 PM my Grandfather passed away at the age of 79 after years of battling many illnesses. He now can be with my Grandmother, who died way too young at the age of 58. Grandpop was the leader, the rock, of the family. Always the funny man, yet never ashamed to show his feelings. He invented the quote "hugs are the best" and he lived by that motto. He was, as I've quoted before, the "last true family man." Everything that I've done so far in my life, I did it in hopes that one person was watching and proud of me. Him. He and my Grandmother were like second parents to me and my brother as we were growing up, and though my sister was not born yet when my Grandmother passed, it was always known by my Grandpop that she was sent here by my Grandmother. Grandpop was the greatest. And now with great sadness and pride, I'd like to share a couple memories of my hero with the people who care to read them.
*He was the Father of 6 children and husband of only 1, his soul mate and the woman of his dreams, my Grandmother. He loved her like nothing else I'd ever seen, even in movies. The kind of love he had for my Grandmother is the kind of love I hope to find some day.
*He served in the United States Navy and worked many jobs to supply enough money to pay for his 6 children and all of their different interests, most notably their pets. The Andress household may have held a world record for the amount of pets they had over the years. You name a dog breed and I bet they had one at one point. My Aunt Robin was and still is very in love with the hobby of caring for horses, and wouldn't you believe that she had one when she was a little girl. My Grandfather worked countless hours to cover those stable bills and pay for all of the pets' food. He would stop at nothing to make his kids and wife happy.
*In the early parts of my life, during my first stint of living in Philadelphia, I went to Disston Elementary School, located a few blocks from my Grandfather's house. To make it convenient for my mom and dad at the time, my brother and I went to that school and used my Grandparent's address as our home address so that we could walk home from school every day and they oculd watch us until our mom got out of work. What if he wasn't as kind as he was? And my parents would have had to put us in a different school or an after school facility until they could come pick us up? Well then I may have never went to Disston and met George and Eric, 2 of the best friends a guy could ask for.
*When I was 6 years old my mom and Grandparents took me to Torresdale Boys Club in NE Philly to sign up for little kids Double-A Baseball. It was the kind where the kids all took the field but when they batted, they faced a pitching machine. Well anyway, after seeing all of the kids and different people at signups, I cried my eyes out until my mom would take me home and I said I didn't want to signup and play because I was shy and quiet. Well my mom took me to Grandmom and Grandpops house and they told her to turn right back around and sign me up for baseball, saying I need to give it a shot and you never know if you'll like something until you try it. Give it a shot they said. And if you don't like it, well you can't quit, but then the next year you don't have to play. I cried some more as my mom drove me back and signed me up. 17 years later I'm preparing to play my 17th straight year of baseball. Baseball has become the love of my life and I owe it all to my Grandparents.
*When I was 10 I broke my arm in 3 places wrestling with my friends. 6 weeks later I got my cast off. My grandfather took me to the doctor that day to get the cast removed and after it was removed I remember how scared I was because my arm looked so strange and different as I hadn't experienced a broken bone before. Grandpop was there to take care of me. He took me home after the doctors and told me that I'll be back to normal in a couple days and it'll be like it was never even broken. Oh and did I mention he stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home and bought me a dozen of my favorite doughnut, the vanilla powdered vanilla cream ones, for me and handed them to me in the passenger's seat. Oh and on top of the box was a $100 bill. He was the best.
*One of the coolest stories Grandpop ever told me was of when he was in the Navy. One day he was sitting on the deck of a huge Naval ship reading a letter my Grandmother had wrote him, that included a picture of her. Some guy walked up behind him and while noticing the picture said "Hey, who's the bitch?" My Grandfather punched him and gave the guy a black eye on the spot. You were to talk to ladies with respect, especially his lady.
*When I was 13 and my parents had split and we had moved back to Philly, we lived in a small apartment on a not so great street. We weren't doing well in the money category now that we had just my mom's income to rely on. Grandpop still came over every Sunday night for dinner. Even if he didn't come for dinner, on any day he was known to make surprise visits at our house with bags of food, meat to put in our freezer, or boxes upon boxes of snacks for us kids to enjoy, because he knew the rough time we were going through. He'd stop by right before dinner with our family favorite back then, Boston Market, and I remember how excited we were. Also, while my mom was going through divorce and other problems on her own, Grandpop would leave notes on her car windshield. They'd say things like "Keep going babe, you can do anything. You're the best!"
*I remember going through college and hitting my rough spots. I'd go and talk to Grandpop saying how I can't do it anymore and I'm not cut out for the college life. He'd look me in the eye and tell me how much he believed in me, telling me that I wasn't to give up and as long as I had my brain, I could do anything.
I'm pretty drained right now from a long day, but I wanted to get these current and everlasting thoughts into writing asap. I wanted as many people to know about the fighter that my Grandfather was. He battled sickness for many years and I truly believe that during his recent battle, he hung on long enough to be able to still be around with us for the holidays. I ask for all of your prayers for my family because there's a lot of us, and some may not take this as well as others. Thanks for listening and reading along if you made it this far.
Rest in Peace Grandpop
