Remembering

I started this blog to keep our family and friends updated on Samuel's development, and to serve as a reminder to us in years to come of what he did in his toddler years. Now he's a pre-schooler and has two siblings, closer to family but further from friends, and I hope to continue to journal our family's growth here and that one day all three kids will enjoy reading about their early days. It strikes me that I can also use this blog to share stories with Samuel, Matthew and Renee of people who they have met but will have little, if any, memory of and of people they weren't able to meet. So once in a while I'm going to post a story or memory I have about one of my grandparents or even great grandparents (I remember 3 of them). Although my grandparents weren't veterans (Mexico had very limited involvement in the wars of the 20th century), I thought today would be a fitting day to start.

I've already written about Renee (my mom's mom) and my Zaide (dad's dad) in the blog posting about their Simchat Bat and Brit Milah, http://samuelsharrett.blogspot.com/2008/07/brit-milah-and-simchat-bat.html, so I'm going to write about Dick - he was my mom's dad. As with my grandmother Renee, we called him by his first name, just like my kids call my mom Regi. A few random memories.

He called me his "bochora", his first born, and I know he really loved me deeply.

He was a dedicated Rotarian.

He had a fantastic library, full of books and records. Marc has many of the same books that Dick used to have. For my Bat Mitzvah he gave me four books that he had gotten from his father including an atlas from the 1910s, two Jewish prayer books and a Spanish novel from the 1700s. They are mine temporarily until I pass them on to future generations.

He was an optometrist and he often re-positioned my glasses with a very gentle, yet firm way, that made them fit better.

He did most of his studies abroad, as a child he was sent to a boarding school in Scotland - imagine being a Mexican kid and being sent by ship to a boarding school so far away - and went to university in Philadelphia.

He loved sunsets, and designed the house he retired to in San Miguel de Allende to position the huge living room window perfectly to enjoy them.

He liked to drink Squirt, the grapefruit pop, with tequila. He had cereal for dinner, I forget the name but it was the one with the frog on the box.

When we went for walks, we'd walk side by side and take big diagonal steps almost overlapping the other person's path - I think there was a song that went along with it, but I don't remember it.

He wore white shoes and cardigan sweaters, and I think of him every time I see white shoes.

He was an avid photographer.

I think of him often. I think he and Marc would have had fantastic discussions about politics and history and I know he would have loved his great grandchildren.