A to Z '14 - Xenial

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


X is for Xenial.


To be xenial is to be hospitable and caring - especially to strangers. They are considered helpful and useful.


My grandfather was considerably xenial.


He was happy to help people - and animals - in need.



He would hold doors to others, help by donation or by reaching his hand out to help you out. He was raised to be a true gentleman and humanitarian.


He was incredibly hospitable as well. He was happy to host our wedding at his home.






He was a good man and was always ready to help anyone in need.


Xenial is an adjective you're not likely to hear very often. The next time you do, think of my grandfather. It describes him well!


X is Xenial.

A to Z '14 - Selflessness

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


S is for Selflessness.


My grandfather was a very selfless man. He always gave and did for others.


His mother was a very hard working, selfless woman. At a young age, he learned the value of selflessness and generosity.


Working his way through life, he gave back to his mother. He gave to everyone in the family. He gave to multiple charities. He gave to anyone he encountered that was in need of help.


Mind you, he was anything but a doormat. There is a huge difference between selflessness and people pleasing. He clearly set boundaries which people respected. And he gave what he could: time, money, energy, effort. He was very respected for it and very much appreciated for it.



Sadly, we live in a world where selflessness is a dying attribute. Most people nowadays only live for themselves. Is it any wonder the divorce rate is as high as it is? Can we really be surprised by the hatred and killing in our society today when we glorify selfishness in the media today?


We need to return to our humanity. To give - even just a little - in order to help someone else. It doesn't take a tremendous amount of money or some huge event to be able to change someone's life. Just do the best you can with what you have. You'll be amazed to learn that the life changed is your own.


S is for selflessness.

A to Z '14 - Role Model

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


R is for Role Model.

My grandfather was the greatest role model a girl could ever ask for. I cannot think of any way in which he wasn't the perfect role model.



Wikipedia defines a role model as, "A role model is a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people."


His behavior was impeccable. He was always giving, helping, caring, doing for others. He laughed often. He took care of his family in every way possible.


He led by example. He was generous, he was smart, he was respectful. He gave us something to emulate.


His success was like something out of a novel. Growing up in the Great Depression, he came from nothing. He started working as a teenager - he dropped out of high school to work. And he worked until he was about 80, having briefly owned companies like Poland Spring and Revlon. His life was the epitome of hard work and success.


So was my grandfather a role model? Yes! He was the perfect role model!


R is for Role Model.

A to Z '14 - Morals

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


M is for Morals.

I am so very grateful for having my grandfather be such an influential person in my life. Raised with the influences of the 1950s to the 1970s, I was taught valuable lessons about respecting your elders and teachers, the importance of honesty, and the value of being a good person (rather than the value of a good manicure).



Thanks to my grandfather, I am respectful, professional, polite, grateful...I have morals.


Morals are so important. They guide us, they help us to discern right from wrong. Most of the time, that's fairly simple to do. But when you're suddenly caught in one of those strange situations where the line is clouded, morals are what we need and use to make the best decision - the right decision.



It seems that the younger generations have lost the real sense of morals. Instead of living in a world where we live with other people, most people today can only think of themselves. Getting what they want is far more important than giving to others. Getting things now far surpasses time spent with family. We focus on material things now. Money rules. Which I find rather comical since you can't take it with you, but that's an entirely different blog.


Morals help us all to be better people. To be kinder, wiser, more compassionate. Morals don't necessarily come from a specific religion. They really come from a place of love and respect. If we love and respect others, we will not hurt them. That is an example of morals in the simplest, most basic form.


It can be easy to fall into the endless cycle of thinking, "Oh poor, pitiful me." But we need to stop and think. How blessed we really are to have all that we do and the people that love us. Let us not lose our morals. Instead, let us use them as they can only enrich and enhance our lives and relationships.

M is for Morals.

A to Z '14 - Kindness

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


K is for Kindness.


My grandfather was a very kind soul. He was strong, but very gentle. He was forgiving, understanding, supportive, and generous.


He would give you anything you needed, and then some.


He was a listening ear, a shoulder on which to cry.


He was not judgmental towards anyone.


He emanated kindness.


As far as kindness and compassion goes, he was the perfect role model.


I aspire to be like him. I may not ever be as great as he, but if we are all a little kinder, the world will be a much better place!


K is for Kindness.

A to Z '14 - Integrity

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


I is for Integrity.

Integrity is defined as, "The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness."



My grandfather embraced integrity.

He was always honest. He was honest, but never hurtful. I knew I could always trust what he said, and know that it always came from a point of wisdom and love.



He had strong moral principles. He was knighted in the Catholic church, but his own upbringing instilled more morals and ethics than the church ever did. He understood the value of family, and of hard work. He always aimed to help others - and he did! More times than I could even venture a guess, he helped others. His morality was an innate one, not one of blind faith. Never once did I see him say or do anything that could be questionable or immoral. He was simply a good man with a great heart.

Moral uprightness? You had better believe it! An upstanding citizen, a good, generous man. His priorities were always straight. He was a pillar of the community and a role model for all. In my eulogy, I called him a hero. I did so because he was. Whether running into a burning building to save the family pet or teaching me the values of hard work and dedication, he was always a hero.

Integrity and heroism are very tightly related for me. I simply cannot see how you can have one without the other. Integrity is very important to me because my Grandfather was the embodiment of it. I do my best daily to be a woman of true integrity. If I can help others by being and doing the way he did, I know I will have done well as a person.



I is for integrity.

A to Z '14 - Honesty

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


H is for Honesty.


My grandfather always told us to be honest. He was a man of his word, and he was a great role model for it. He taught us the importance of honesty and integrity. He always told me to be a person of my word and to have a good handshake. For me, those are both so tightly intertwined. A good handshake is the mark of an honest person.

Honesty is so important. For me, I have to wonder about people who lie (whether patholoically or not). Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect. I've lied. For whatever reasons, I have. But I have met some people whose entire lives were based on lies. Or they had huge lies within their marriages (a lack of fidelity, for example). That's the kind of stuff that I don't understand. How can you live with yourself? How can you keep your stories straight? How can anyone ever truly believe you?



I don't know and I don't want to know. At the end of the day, we are the ones who have to live with ourselves, our decisions and our actions. Honesty is important - it's a tremendous indicator of character.



I choose to be honest, because the greatest man I have ever known was.

H is for honesty.

A to Z '14 - Giving

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away on April 3, 2013.


G is for Giving.


My grandfather was the epitome of selflessness. He gave and gave and gave.

He donated his time, money and energy into helping inner city you, the MS Society, his church, his family...the list is longer than I know. He gave because he could and because he knew it was his duty.

Realistically, it's everyone's duty. We all have the opportunity to give in various ways. It doesn't have to be money. Donate your time to helping another person. Give your old clothes and books to a charity or shelter. Use your talents to enhance someone else's life. Everyone can give something to someone somewhere.



Giving doesn't hurt. Quite the contrary. It helps both the giver and the receiver. It brightens everyone's day - it brightens everyone's life!



So please, give. Give in any way you can. It will bless you more than words can ever say. I know because I've seen how it impacted my grandfather and our family.

G is for Giving.

A to Z '14 - Compassion/Caring

For this year's A to Z Challenge, I am honoring my grandfather who passed away one year ago today, April 3, 2013.


C is for Compassion and Caring.

My grandfather cared for me in so many ways. He was an integral part of my childhood. He and my grandmother lived less than 10 minutes away. We visited and stayed with them often.

He cared for me like any good parent. He made sure we were fed and cared for. But his care went so much further. He was truly compassionate towards us. Giving us love and kindness that surpasses all description.

From checkers to pool to important life lessons, he taught us everything. He cared for us by educating us in as many ways as he could.

More over, he cared for us by supporting us. He was always my biggest fan and advocate. He always supported my writing. He always spoke positively to me and about me. He cared for my emotions, talents and self-esteem more than anyone or anything else.

He cared. By his caring, I have learned to care. I care for myself and I care for others all because of his example.

C is for caring.