My
Father, Edward,
is a man of few words, so when
he speaks, you listen! I think my Father is an amazing man. He has
had such a hard life, and yet he remains so kind and so full of love.
When my Father was four years old, he and his family fell into the
realm of Adolph Hitler, and were forced to leave their home in Poland
and move to Germany to live on concentration camps and work on
Germans' 
farms.
It was either that, or die. Because the work was so grueling (in all
reality, my ancestors were slaves), my father had to watch over his
two younger brothers--image that for a moment, a four-year-old
babysitting! That's completely unheard of, and yet, he did
it!! At one point during all this, my Father and his family were on a
train taken to be killed in the concentration camps. My Grandfather
got off he train when it had stopped to pick up more Poles and said
he was not going to allow the Germans to kill him and his family in a
concentration camp so they should just kill them all right
there! AMAZING!! (I've had people tell me I'm
very determined and strong-willed, and I just laugh and think about
this story--apparently, it runs in my blood!) As it turned out, my
Father and his family were taken to Germany to work on the farms and
eventually made their way to the USA.My father has also had to deal with much death in his life, within just short of two years he lost his father, wife, and brother all to death. All this would certainly drive many people over the edge of sanity (or at least turn them into cold people), but my Father has remained a giving, caring, loving man who I respect more than other human being!
My
Mother,
Barbara, passed away in 1989,
but my love for her continues to grow every day. My
Mother was such a compassionate and loving person I often have been
amazed at how well she was able to "turn the other cheek" and put her
own wants and needs aside to help others. She was also very
artistically talented. She never took a class in oil painting,
however, she was phenomenal at it. She would work very hard at her
paintings and would sell them at craft shows for hundreds of dollars.
People would always tell her how talented she was. Imagine being that
good and never having a class at it--what she could've done if she
had taken a course or two! (I guess that's where I get my
interest in art from, only I channel it through the computer whereas
my Mother use oil paints.) My Mother was also a very honest and
non-discriminating person. Her genuine kindness obviously showed
through as whenever we were in a store, strangers would just strike
up conversations with her like they had been good friends for
years! My Mother was also very intellectual; she was
always good for stimulating conversation and you always left the
conversation with your mind expanded. Mom also had a humorous side to
her; it wasn't uncommon for her to leave the house with a hanger in
her coat, or her shoe getting stuck on the escalator (she wore an
impressive size 11 shoe)! She was a lot of fun and I miss her a
lot.
