My Grandparents are two of the most amazing people anyone could ever meet. Below is a shot of them this past December at my cousins wedding.
I am sad to say my grandfather passed a way a few days ago. He had a 10 year battle with Alzheimer disease which is tough to watch anyone go through but in the end he had a stroke. While he spent some time in the hospital I am glad he didn't have to suffer too long. I have been on Long Island spending time with my family and participating in the services for the past few days. My grandparents have been married for 38 years and my grandfather lived to be 87 years old. He lived a wonderfully full life and my grandparents truly had a relationship that most aspire to have. You always hear of couples who are so much in love that they can't go on living after one passes away, let's hope that my young grandmother is not one of those cases as she is my last grandparent and we love her very much.
Over the last few days during the wake and funeral I have been reflecting on all of the great memories of times with my grandfather who we call Papa Nick. I wrote the below in memory of him to share at the funeral and thought I would share it here as well.
First I would like to thank
everyone for being here tonight to pay respects to my grandfather Nick Ospitale.
He would be pleased to see so many of his friends and family here today.
Whether you knew him as a husband, father, grandfather, uncle, or friend, you
probably had the same level of appreciation for him that I did.
My grandfather was a great man. When I think about him the words
that come to mind are: generous, caring, humorous, storyteller, and family man.
These are just a few words that come to mind, but it is impossible to summarize
how great a person he was in words.
My earliest memories of time spent with my grandfather are
visiting the house in Bohemia with my other cousins. Whether it was playing on the boat in the
yard, playing numerous rounds of pool on his championship pool table, or having
a cousin sleepover with blanket tents, grandma and grandpa’s house was the
place to be. As a child, I didn't fully appreciate how great that time was but
looking back it was wonderful how generous our grandparents were to let us
spend so much time at their home.
One of my grandfather’s
favorite things to reminisce about was when he took Stephen, Melissa and Me to
Florida as small children. For the three
of us we will always remember Dennys, Car Sickness, Orange Soda and of course
grandpa putting his watch upside down and us all getting ready to go to
Seaworld only to find out it was still dark out. It’s a story we still laugh
about today.
As we got older cousin
sleepovers became fewer but we still looked forward to the 7 fish dinner every
Christmas Eve where we would of course eat pasta with gravy. Red Sauce for all you non Italians in the
audience. There was always a ton of
food, and grandpa would always remind us how he didn’t have an appetite because
he sat around all the time. As he got older he truly missed being active and of
course mowing his own lawn.
We also were fortunate to
take three cruises as a family which our grandparents generously took us
on. These vacations were an opportunity
for us to spend quality time together and really helped to make cousins close
friends. As I reflect on this wonderful
time, I think back to how happy grandpa was to see us enjoying the trips. My
grandparents were avid travelers having been all over the world, they loved
cruising and wanted to share the experience with all of us.
Papa Nick always seemed
relaxed and to not let much bother him. As long as he was surrounded by family
and a delicious glass of Opichi wine he was happy. I am going to miss my grandfather’s jokes,
sayings and most of all how much he cared for all of us. Thank you Papa Nick for being such a wonderful
person to me, your family and friends. We will all miss you and love you
always.
Papa Nick 1986
The Crew with grandpa during a cousin sleepover in the 80's
Rest in Peace Papa Nick.
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