goodbye

My grandfather passed away suddenly this past weekend. It was so hard because he had just moved up from Florida to be close with us. He was a brilliant man who had a hard life. He was always generous with others, especially his grandchildren. While I know he is in a better place, the selfish side of me wishes he had stayed longer.

He was born in Poland and fought in World War II, including the Battle of Monte Cassino.
He received the Polish Cross of Valor for Bravery. He met my grandmother in Italy. They fell in love, had my mom and immigrated to New Jersey. My grandfather earned his degree at Rutgers and worked at RCA helping to develope the first demonstration of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD = color TV).

My most vivid memory of my grandfather is from the time when he and my grandmother lived in Florida. He would go fishing before we awoke, every morning I'd go see the fish he caught and touch their eyeballs.( I was a tomboy who liked to play in the dirt with worms and touch gross things like fishes eyeballs)

I miss Papa.