Elizabeth and Ella: August 22, 2014

Hi Dad,
I can't believe a year has gone by so fast. I know you can see everything that has happened since you joined Mom but I want you to know that the girls and I are doing good. We are blessed to be part of this family that you steered so well all your life. I just talked with Kevin today about some changes I am thinking of doing to the front porch. I hope you will be ok with it, but I am going to take the walls down and open up the porch again. I am also going to call my handy man Tom to work on the back drip ledge - you know the spot - the outside wall behind the buffet. I still remember you telling me you were going to take that out because there was no insulation to speak of behind it. Thankfully you were not serious. :-)

This fall Elizabeth will be joining Ella at St Marks. You saw how well Ella did at St Marks and I am very happy both girls will be there. Elizabeth did a great job at Ramsey but the environment was not up to our standards. I hope I did you proud in standing up for both my girls. I remember thinking when I was younger how hard it was to speak up but now I can do it for my girls. Another example of your influence in my life.

So anyway I had an idea today. I thought I would ask the girls to share their favorite memories of you. They both were so quick to give me a list and they are great. Just know Dad that we talk of you all the time and who knows - maybe the girls talk to you too.

Here is a list of Elizabeth's memories:
Loving
Funny
Kidder
Kind
Awesome
The best Grandpa ever
Going on walks (She loves hearing the story of how you took her for a walk that first week she was home and that when you brought her back, I asked where her shoe was. She had kicked one off while you were walking her in her stroller. And you went back and found it.)
Eating doughnuts
Ice cream. :-)

Here is Ella's list of memories:
Always has been so nice and a great sense of humor
Funniest guy I knew in my life (I think you were the one to teach Ella how to blow the paper off a straw - I have been hit a few times with that one)
I miss him so much
I love you Grandpa
We went to the park and had fun
When we went to Church with him, he looked happy, peaceful and focused - and I always got to sit next to him

My list:
Coffee
Stopping at your barber shop on the way home from grade school on those super cold days.
Telling me I had to go to St Agnes, St Bernards or Grace because they had home-ec classes instead of being able to go to Derham with my friends. And then I learned more from watching you cook dinners than anything I learned in freshman home-ec. :-)
Going to 8 am mass with you for all those years before and after kids.
Fights with you when I was a teenager because I didn't do my chores like you were hoping.
Buying my house and having you come over before even the furniture was there to put new locks on the doors and then that first weekend you guys put in the garage door opener. Always keeping me safe.
One of my favorite memories is when I came through the door at the International gate with Elizabeth and I just looked for you and when I saw your face, I crumbled. I was so proud to show you my daughter and introduce you to Elizabeth. I had the same feeling when we walked through that same gate with Ella just a few years later.

Thanks Dad for you have done in my life and still do. I know you are still watching out for us and I hope you are cracking some wise cracks up there with Mom.

Love you from Elizabeth, Ella and me.