Just a couple of the reasons I return to Detroit every year :)
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
4.09.2015
Faith
Thinking about faith a lot the last few days. I'm not one to be religious but religion seems to surround me. Is faith religion? When I burn the candle and wish away the evil... is that religion? I don't think so but others may. I tend to believe whatever gets you through the day is what you need, but that can also go the wrong way. Faith can be negative in all it's positive ideals. But for right now, I just need my family to be healthy. I appreciate those that can pull full faith in a belief that praying to a saint will make it all better... That walking in circles 4 times and bowing to the corners will make it all better... but right now I just need it to be all better. Taking a deep breathe... breathe in... breathe out. Whatever it takes tonight.
Thinking about faith a lot the last few days. I'm not one to be religious but religion seems to surround me. Is faith religion? When I burn the candle and wish away the evil... is that religion? I don't think so but others may. I tend to believe whatever gets you through the day is what you need, but that can also go the wrong way. Faith can be negative in all it's positive ideals. But for right now, I just need my family to be healthy. I appreciate those that can pull full faith in a belief that praying to a saint will make it all better... That walking in circles 4 times and bowing to the corners will make it all better... but right now I just need it to be all better. Taking a deep breathe... breathe in... breathe out. Whatever it takes tonight.
4.05.2015
I almost hate to post the first pic after my last post but it's how the days have connected. Life. As you roll into Duryea the largest headstone on the right is a memorial for my great grandparents. It's so very strange to see your own name on a headstone but there it is. I didn't know this town until I was an adult but I still feel a strong connection to it. There's not much left, especially after the last flood, but there is still so much family history. A drive through town only takes 5 minutes, maybe 10 if you go past the house and the other cemetery. The hole in the ground where Grandpa's bar was is finally filled in, that only took 75 years, but the garage is still there. That's Dad bent over picking up something important. I've taken so many photos of this empty lot but without anyone to really tell the stories it is what it is, an empty lot. There's folklore and newspaper clippings but nothing first hand. Oh how I wish I could go back in time to see whether there really was a brothel, to see whether Grandpa had alcohol during prohibition, to see how the fire really started... the stories are probably better then the truth. It's sad to see all the bars and restaurants closed, the Mo-Ritz has been for sale for so long i'm sure they'd give it to you for free if you'd actually open something in it. What happens to a town like this? How does it stay alive when even the churches are closing?
4.04.2015
Happy Birthday Pops.
The last pic I took of my dad is one I'll never share. It comes up every so often when I'm searching for an image or on my screensaver and stops me in my tracks. Not because it makes me sad but because it is so surreal. Lying peacefully under a dark blanket, empty flower stands, an empty couch, empty chairs… on a gurney next to a pink curtain. The whole room felt pink. How is that possible? That's not him, just his shape and barely that after the previous six months. The next pic is that same room but packed, full of his friends and family… everyone is smiling! It's truly incredible. So much love. I prefer to remember him from all the happier moments, like the one above from Thanksgiving. We were all together in Florida for Mom and Dad's 50th... goofin' for the camera, laughing and enjoying the sunshine. He loved the sun.
I have vivid memories of childhood and then some - from every ski trip to Crystal and Boyne to summer vacations along the shores of Michigan. The time my brother got a new skateboard and I inherited his old wood one. Dad and I in the garage painting it red white and blue. He loved the Stars and Stripes. He loved his boats too - from l'il Joe to Fido Dido and everything in-between - and all the amazing fish that came from those boats! Fried up in the cast iron skillet on the grill with those thinly sliced potatoes. I can still taste it. His vette! The MG's. The time he brought home that gold pinto mustang and I refused to drive it, “Dad, that's not a Mustang". What a brat. Every Saturday afternoon spent at HoJo’s - some sport or another on the TV, a bowl of fried clams, a Shirley Temple and Dad. He was the first one to make you laugh and the first to fall asleep, no matter where he was. There’s a pic somewhere which I can’t find right now - a lounge chair with a “reserved for Jay” sign on it - I think he was sound asleep already. He didn’t care, when he wanted to nap he napped!
Dad loved Michigan State and I always knew how they fared in any game they played. If they won, the phone rang soon after the win. If they didn’t, I’d find out Sunday morning. I miss my Sunday morning phone calls more then anything. Today is a big day for MSU, I know he’s gathered around a TV with his friends, drinking MGD (or maybe Heineken, it is a big game!) and cheering on Izzo. There’s butter pecan ice cream, homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk on the table for ya… Happy Birthday Dad… I’ll listen to your voicemail after MSU wins today. Go Green!
The last pic I took of my dad is one I'll never share. It comes up every so often when I'm searching for an image or on my screensaver and stops me in my tracks. Not because it makes me sad but because it is so surreal. Lying peacefully under a dark blanket, empty flower stands, an empty couch, empty chairs… on a gurney next to a pink curtain. The whole room felt pink. How is that possible? That's not him, just his shape and barely that after the previous six months. The next pic is that same room but packed, full of his friends and family… everyone is smiling! It's truly incredible. So much love. I prefer to remember him from all the happier moments, like the one above from Thanksgiving. We were all together in Florida for Mom and Dad's 50th... goofin' for the camera, laughing and enjoying the sunshine. He loved the sun.
I have vivid memories of childhood and then some - from every ski trip to Crystal and Boyne to summer vacations along the shores of Michigan. The time my brother got a new skateboard and I inherited his old wood one. Dad and I in the garage painting it red white and blue. He loved the Stars and Stripes. He loved his boats too - from l'il Joe to Fido Dido and everything in-between - and all the amazing fish that came from those boats! Fried up in the cast iron skillet on the grill with those thinly sliced potatoes. I can still taste it. His vette! The MG's. The time he brought home that gold pinto mustang and I refused to drive it, “Dad, that's not a Mustang". What a brat. Every Saturday afternoon spent at HoJo’s - some sport or another on the TV, a bowl of fried clams, a Shirley Temple and Dad. He was the first one to make you laugh and the first to fall asleep, no matter where he was. There’s a pic somewhere which I can’t find right now - a lounge chair with a “reserved for Jay” sign on it - I think he was sound asleep already. He didn’t care, when he wanted to nap he napped!
Dad loved Michigan State and I always knew how they fared in any game they played. If they won, the phone rang soon after the win. If they didn’t, I’d find out Sunday morning. I miss my Sunday morning phone calls more then anything. Today is a big day for MSU, I know he’s gathered around a TV with his friends, drinking MGD (or maybe Heineken, it is a big game!) and cheering on Izzo. There’s butter pecan ice cream, homemade chocolate chip cookies and milk on the table for ya… Happy Birthday Dad… I’ll listen to your voicemail after MSU wins today. Go Green!
8.28.2010
Katrina - stronger then the rest.
She certainly left her mark. Some wear it like a tattoo while most hoped the scars would have faded away by now. Memories are often harder then reality. Sadly, throughout the south She still shows her face too often. If it wasn't Katrina, it was the rest of the family Rita, Gustav and Ike... a horrible family to know. Watching the news and the videos all week I'm reminded of a storm on two fronts - one in New Orleans and one at home. My mother was just waking from the haze of the unknown, unable to comprehend what was happening to her let alone New Orleans. We explained it over and over every time she asked but it was just as hard for us to understand. 5 years later Mom has recovered just fine, the south... still struggling amidst a new battle.
She certainly left her mark. Some wear it like a tattoo while most hoped the scars would have faded away by now. Memories are often harder then reality. Sadly, throughout the south She still shows her face too often. If it wasn't Katrina, it was the rest of the family Rita, Gustav and Ike... a horrible family to know. Watching the news and the videos all week I'm reminded of a storm on two fronts - one in New Orleans and one at home. My mother was just waking from the haze of the unknown, unable to comprehend what was happening to her let alone New Orleans. We explained it over and over every time she asked but it was just as hard for us to understand. 5 years later Mom has recovered just fine, the south... still struggling amidst a new battle.
8.09.2010
Family.
The last leg of my trip was surrounded by family and lots of kids with every emotion played out for the camera. Even with tears streaming, after every pic comes "let me see". They will never know what it means to wait for film to be processed, to look at summer photos in the fall when you finally drop off the film. The pleasant surprise of a lost memory. Snap. Look. Snap. Look. Download. Edit. Post. I'm just as addicted to the now.
The last leg of my trip was surrounded by family and lots of kids with every emotion played out for the camera. Even with tears streaming, after every pic comes "let me see". They will never know what it means to wait for film to be processed, to look at summer photos in the fall when you finally drop off the film. The pleasant surprise of a lost memory. Snap. Look. Snap. Look. Download. Edit. Post. I'm just as addicted to the now.
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