It has been a shitty one for to say the least. Anyway September 2nd get a call from my cousins in Italy telling me that my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. At 91 years old and the advanced stage of the cancer they gave him 2 months to live. I talk to the wife and she agrees that I set a trip for October spend a week with him. I would have chosen to go sooner but with 3 huge projects coming to close at work I could not leave before the end of the month in September.

Fast forward 1 week Wednesday September 10th at 11:45 pm (5:45 am in Palermo Sicily) and my brother calls me and tells me my dad got the call from his brother in Italy telling us my grandfather has passed. It was really hard for all of us but what was really hard to swallow was that my father was set to fly out on Thursday September 11th to spend the next 3 weeks in Italy so he could be with his father. That did not work. Instead he was going to a funeral instead and did not get to speak to his dad 1 last time.

In the end I have to say that things have been really hard since my grandfather died. I have been blessed that for 26 years of my life no one in my family has died, this is all new to me. I had all 4 of my grandparents growing up and it was great. I got spoiled here in the states all year long but in the summers from the age of 10-15 I got to spend 6 weeks in Italy with my grandparents there. Looking back at this, I realized that I had the life. Now I find myself dealing with this loss 1 day at time. I just keep thinking to myself that we should all be so lucky to live until 91 like my grandfather. I think back to his life and recognized that the economy today can't be any worse than the wars my grandfather went through, living through the great depression and fascist movement, or the massive earthquakes the destroyed 3 of his homes. All this and the guy was still sharp enough to write out his check to the electric, gas, and phone company the day prior to his passing. In the end I have a ton of memories to look back at and am grateful to god for all that I was blessed with each and every day. Take nothing for granted.



God Bless
Francesco Paolo Maniscalco
4/15/1917 - 9/11/2008