Thursday, August 23, 2018
A Long Time
It has been a long time since my last post. This doesn't mean I've stopped thinking about Solomon. The past year has been hard, hard in a way only a babyloss mama can understand. It was a year of "would have" - Solomon would have been a senior in High School, learned how to drive, applied to colleges, been accepted, had graduation and prom. There's an abundance of activities he didn't participate in. It's worn on me.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Fundraising
If you're reading this entry, thank you.
A 14 year old girl in 9th grade with my rainbow son was hit by a car last week. In the first few hours there were so many rumors about her condition. I cried in my house and I cried at work for her mom.
She will need many surgeries and tons of physical therapy. If you can, I hope you will donate to help this family and please share the link. #LaraStrong
https://www.gofundme.com/lara-oceanside-student-hit-by-car
A 14 year old girl in 9th grade with my rainbow son was hit by a car last week. In the first few hours there were so many rumors about her condition. I cried in my house and I cried at work for her mom.
She will need many surgeries and tons of physical therapy. If you can, I hope you will donate to help this family and please share the link. #LaraStrong
https://www.gofundme.com/lara-oceanside-student-hit-by-car
Monday, May 22, 2017
Make new friends
Yesterday I made a new friend. I don't want to make new friends. It isn't because I'm unfriendly or unkind. It's because I don't want any more people to be on this journey. It seemed like kismet that I have this new friend. Two different moms I know reached out to me about a woman who lost a daughter last month. Both these women thought of me. I gave the first woman one of my books, and when the second woman reached out and told me the bereaved mom had my book, I knew it had to be the same mom.
I hope I can be some comfort to this mom. I know her pain.
I hope I can be some comfort to this mom. I know her pain.
Thursday, December 08, 2016
Daddy
My daddy, Martin Schwartz, passed away on December 2, 2016. I hope he's met Solomon, I hope now they are both not alone.
This was the eulogy I gave for my dad.
This was the eulogy I gave for my dad.
December 5,
2016
Thank you
all for coming today. I very much
appreciate it and I'm sure my family does too. This will mostly be in I format
but please factor in my brother too!
I've spent
the past 72 hours trying to come up with the right words to convey how I feel
about my dad.
I think most
people here know that I am a daddy's girl.
For years I thought my dad hung the moon. I hope most little girls feel that way about
their dads. I would stand on his feet
and he would dance me around our living room like a princess.
My dad was
born to Estelle and Charles Schwartz in 1941.
The first son after two sisters, Sondra and Arlene, and big brother to
my uncle Norman. He grew up playing
stickball in the Bronx and going to Yankees games. He was for sure a Yankees fan. He graduated Dewitt Clinton high school where
he got to school walking up hill, both ways.
After graduating enlisted in the navy.
He was on the ship that opened the St. Lawrence's seaway.
He became a
lithographic cameraman by trade. He met
my mom through friends and they married in 1964. Their 52nd anniversary was a
few days ago. They married in November and I was born in December my dad would
joke. But it was the following December!
Mike and I
had a wonderful childhood. We didn't
grow up rich but we grew up with everything we needed in our parents. We were
fed, sheltered and loved. And we were
driven to our various activities in a series of station wagons that my dad
loved.
I remember
snapshots of my childhood. Dad teaching me to play checkers and me crying
because he won every game. It seemed like we played 100 games but it was
probably only 5 or 6. I remember calling
him from college, complaining my anatomy and physiology class was too hard and
that I would never need this information.
He said someday I would use that knowledge. He was right.
Years later I was able to answer a really hard question about
capillaries on Jeopardy. He would bring
me tootsie rolls when her ran errands for my mom. He was a neighborhood dad whom all the kids
knew.
My dad had a
signature whistle and when we heard it in the hallway. Me, Mike, mom and sniffy would race to the
door get the first kiss!
While
learning popular dances for my cousin Eric's bar mitzvah, daddy did the most
amazing John Travolta impression to The Bee Gees Staying Alive. If only we had had the camera out.
I'd call my
dad and say hi it's me. He'd say hello me or sometimes hello sweets. And we
ended our conversations with I love yous.
Dad loved
science fiction movies and Mel Brooks comedy.
He loved Country music: Johnny Cash, the Oakridge Boys, Merle Haggard,
Loretta Lynn. He also loved Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass. He would visit
me at work and say “Hello I'm Johnny Cash” to the receptionist. It was his
signature greeting. In some ways, I
think my dad was a cowboy at heart.
We shared a
love of The Muppets show and MASH – especially Season 2 Episode 20 ‘As You
Were” when Hawkeye and Trapper John ordered gorilla suits.
He loved
Diet Pepsi with very little ice, Lipton Tea, jelly beans and chocolate,
chocolate almost as much as my mom. And
boy did he love a good ribeye steak. My dad cooked a mean grilled cheese and an
even better one-eye sandwich for the kids. He loved hot dogs, burnt to a crisp.
Speaking about food, my father would carve our Thanksgiving turkeys to
perfection. Anyone who’d ever seen one of
his turkeys was blown away at his precision and meticulousness.
We shared a
love of Wo Hops chicken kew with black bean sauce. I'd travel home from college
on Amtrak and take the subway downtown to his job and we'd walk up Canal street
to Mott. He was always so happy whenever
I had the chance to go to Wo Hops.
As a family
we would go camping, roller skating and skiing.
And with his grandkids we’d play Uno, Balderdash and Wii Bowling. The look on his face while my Aunt Tindy was
winning Wii Bowling was seriously befuddled!
Dad enjoyed
traveling with mom, with us and alone. Israel, England, California, Florida and
Branson Missouri. Our whole tribe trips to Disney and Virginia, twelve of us
having good times.
We shared so
many conversations, none of which I can recall.
I just always enjoyed the time being with him that was precious to me.
Lest you
think my dad perfect or that I thought he was, I didn't. He was human, he made mistakes. I forgave
him. And he forgave me my mistakes. My dad and I had a mutual respect for each
other.
My dad loved
my mom. He took every opportunity to
praise her to me – her cooking or how she looked. Most recently at Adam’s Bar
Mitzvah he commented “Hey doesn’t mom look great?” They were just “2 kids from
the Bronx”
My dad loved
all of us and especially his grandchildren Alex, Alison, Adam and
Cayleigh. He had so many special moments
with all of them. He presented Ali with
the tallit given him for his bar mitzvah at her bat mitzvah. He loved Eric, called him a big teddy bear
and I know he knows Eric will always be my rock and protector.
Many might
not know: my dad had been ill since June.
He had been in Booth Memorial Hospital and The Grande Rehabilitation
Center in Whitestone and then the VA Home in St. Albans. Our visits were mostly every 1-2 weeks and we
spoke on the phone every few days. When
he went into North Shore last Monday, I thought this was just a setback and
that I’d see him this coming weekend. On
Monday, I showed him pictures of all of us on my cellphone, and he smiled. When I showed him the photo of my cats, he
smiled and rolled his eyes. He feigned
dislike but I know he was an animal lover. It broke his heart when Sniffy died
and he could not bring himself to tell me. He told me she somehow gained her
strength and ran out of the vets office and is still running.
My dad was a
son, grandson, nephew, uncle, son-in-law, husband, father and grandfather. His
love was unconditional. He liked most people and tried to put people at ease.
He was my
hero in so many ways.
It is a
blessing that I got to be Marty's daughter and even more so that not only was
he my daddy, he was also my friend.
There is a daddy-sized whole in my heart that will always be there. I
imagine you arrived at the gates of Heaven and said “Hello I’m Johnny
Cash.” I am glad you are no longer
suffering and sad that you are not here to enjoy many more years with us. You are always with me. I have the Schwartz chin and your hands. Adam
has your sensitivity and Alison has your strength. Alex has your commitment and Cayleigh has
your spiritedness.
I love you
daddy.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Small Great Things
I read the book, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult this week. The story was excellent and I pretty much abandoned many of my usual chores to read. There were two sentences that just will stay with me. "I think I know why it is called the Kangaroo Suite. It's because even when you no longer have a child, you carry him forever." Here is the Amazon link Small Great Things
Sunday, October 16, 2016
In Memory
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Wonder 16
Today is the 16th anniversary of losing Solomon. In less than three weeks Adam will have his bar mitzvah. March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, especially for me. I've spent the last few months wondering, a lot. Wondering what Solomon would look like at this age. Wondering if he would be athletic like Eric or a book-lover like me, maybe both. I wonder if he would have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend and would have all the googly feelings of a first crush. I wonder sometimes how 16 years have flown by in a blink.
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