I've written about my Southern Grandmom as much as she was a character in her own right, my Greek Grandfather (Papoo) took center stage within his own domain. He, too, never learned to drive but that did not deter him from doing marvelous excursions with his children and subsequently his grandchildren. We would go on picnics, to the zoo, to the beach, to the pier to fish or catch huge crabs that abounded in Chesapeake Bay.
Somedays, he would just simply say "Let's take a walk" and around the neighborhood we would go. Sometimes down to the little inlet with it's high stone retaining wall and all the fancy houses facing the waterfront...we would on the cold stone benches, under old olive trees that they had planted long ago. In the old days you were allowed to fish there too...nowadays, they do not allow it. Papoo had given me a fishing rod, I must of been about nine or so, we sat on the edge of the wall casting out our lines and somehow my hand slipped and the rod flew into the water. I didn't know what to do...Papoo told me not to get upset that he would try to hook it with his to bring it to the surface if he could. I felt really bad, it was a favorite rod & reel of his and he had trusted me to take care of it! Grandpa had such patience, it was remarkable....it took him about forty minutes but I'll be damned if he didn't manage to do it! I was so happy...then I got another lesson on how to strip it, clean it and put it back together again! That was fine with me...it just meant that I got to spend more time with this remarkable, gentle man...he is missed. I learned love & patience from him.
All of my summers were spent mostly in Virginia where my Grandparents lived. Sometimes, if we were lucky we also would visit in February when my Dad had off from horseracing. My Mom's cousin Arthur who would of been my second cousin always planned special wonderful moments for our visits. We, the kids, called him Uncle Arthur and he was a very funny man...he loved to tell jokes, he was always on the go. Because my Grandparents didn't drive Uncle Arthur & his step-mom Pauline would come and take them shopping. Grandma's sister Carrie had died a year before I was born...but she had Arthur& John who were in their teen years when I was born. Arthur made you feel like you were special and he had waited with baited breath just for you to return for a visit. He never stopped doing, or giving..in fact when my own children visited with me year after year Arthur would be there making them smile at something he did, just like I used to. I learned a quick sense of humor from him.
Madeline...oh, what can I say about Madeline...she was my Mom's best friend for so many years. Almost a second Mom to me and my sisters. She was a little spitfire of a woman, standing maybe 5'1", picture Lucille Ball with thick dark hair and huge boobs, I mean Dolly Parton had nothing on Madeline! She had four boys, the youngest one had a bad case of autism. I was her favorite babysitter when the kids were little, as they got older she rarely would leave the youngest with anyone because he was so difficult. Madeline had the soul of a saint, so much patience and oh, so much humor...I can remember the laughter to this day, sort of laughing through the tears. Much to our dismay, Maddie was taken much too early, I often think that God must of needed more laughter in heaven. I learned strength of spirit from her.
Uncle Billy and Uncle George...oh so many memories. Uncle George visiting me in New York..fell in love with my odd shaped hanging lamp...got up one morning to find he had dismantled the whole thing to make a template so he could re-create it when he went home to Maryland. He looked like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar! He did put it all back together again. Uncle George had worked for the government his whole life..as a map maker as he was very artistically gifted. Uncle Billy was a very jovial man, he was the one that lived near my southern grandparents and it fell to him to overlook their needs, so he was a very responsible person...always someone to be counted on day in day out. Both boys, much to the joy of Papoo, married Greek girls from the old country. Their marriages were strong and everlasting until their deaths...I learned responsibility and commitment from them.
I sometimes feel that writing about loved ones who have passed brings them closer to you in the here and now. My Aunt Carrie, who I never met, had these words placed on her tombstone.... "Till We Meet Again".... and I do believe we shall. Oh, my what a reunion that would be! 
I do believe this "the greatest" generation has an indomitable will, a tremendous yearning to succeed...failure was never an option. The younger generations could do well to follow in their footsteps....for they cut a path so wide through human history as to change our destiny forever.
