For 23 years – my entire life – my grandfather has been one of the greatest sources of strength in my life. No matter the occasion, he could always be counted upon to provide stability, keeping us tied to the real world – encouraging us to dream ever higher while simultaneously keeping us planted firmly in reality. In short, he was the very definition of the rock upon which our family has been built, and just as rocks may give way to countless pebbles while retaining their integrity, so my grandfather’s life has been the foundation of lives led by three amazing children, their spouses, and seven grandchildren who he could not have loved more or been more proud of.
Had it not been for his belief in America, the American Dream and American ideals, perhaps none of us would be here today. Indeed, none of us would be here had my grandfather not had the foresight and desire to see his progeny live lives that were impossible in the old world – lives defined by individually-based success, achieved regardless of one’s past and independent of the successes of one’s ancestors; lives defined by outstanding scholastic success – where no one ever gets left back; lives defined by beauty, both inner and outer; lives defined by a compassion that knows no bounds, where whatever is in one’s power is used without question in helping loved ones; lives defined by a companionship and love for one’s partner that permeates through every cell in their bodies, creating relationships that last into eternity and are the envy of many a people.
These, of course, are the intangibles of life – the things we cannot define with one simple example, that we cannot touch, see, or hear, that we may only feel in order to understand. In looking through our pictures and memories over the past week or so, however, we’d inevitably see one or more of four very beautiful and very real things with him: a smile upon his face, a glass of wine in his hand, a grandchild or his amazing and wonderful wife – my Nonna – by his side.
Where such things – both the tangibles and intangibles – define a man’s life, you’ll find a man who has led an amazing, successful life. It seems only fitting, then, that all of us – the pebbles grown into rocks, as it were – might honor him by forming a new foundation steeped in the values of the rock our family had been built upon all those years ago.
Goodbye for now, Nonno – we’ll love and miss you always.