IN MEMORIUM OF MY UNCLE HERM: My Uncle Herm passed away yesterday after battling Parkinson’s for a long time. He was a son of the Gerardot clan, a devoted Catholic, a Korean War veteran, a member of the Teamsters/UAW, and a (*gasp*) Republican. (Yes folks, you can be pro-union and be a Republican.) Like me, my Uncle grew up on a working farm—except the farm was bigger and the work was harder. In fairness, he worked harder than I ever had to, but he played harder than I ever got--- His father, my great-grandfather, distilled his own liquor…and by liquor, I mean his own brand of moonshine…and my grandfather and all his brothers, including my Uncle, got to “help”. I get my love of libations honestly…LOL! ;-) As a child of summer, up at the lake, my Uncle was like a second dad to me…in all the best and worst ways possible. While my grandmother and grandfather hoped to raise a lil lady, this is the Uncle who would encourage the “tom boy” in me. I’m not sure if he did it to thwart my grandparents efforts, undermining the efforts of a sibling the way siblings do for fun, or if he felt obligated to keep me grounded and down to earth. He taught me to bait a hook and fish, how to take a fish off the hook, and how to clean a fish. (Which to this day, I still can’t help but crinkle my nose at the thought of all the sticky sliminess of the scales, blood and guts….uh, yuck!) As a little girl, we used to have fishing contest in which the littlest fish “won”….and at that time, I was the champion of catching the littlest fish. In part because I was a little girl. In part because I had a little hook. And in part because it was a more efficient way for him to get minnows so he could go out later and catch bigger fish….something I didn’t figure out ‘til I was older. (Good one Uncle….free child labor, geesh….LOL! :-P ) One of the most important lessons he taught me was the value of “sinking or swimming.” As the youngest and littlest of all the cousins waaay back then, I should have been held back from some things for my own good, but instead was encouraged to grow and stretch in ways unimaginable today. One of those things was swimming through and/or under a dam. I don’t know why my family did this nor do I remember where exactly. My older cousins got to do it and even though I was clueless about what I was getting myself into, I wanted to swim the dam too. My cousins wouldn’t have anything to do with that, citing my age and limited swimming experience. My Uncle, however, encouraged me to stand my ground and hold my own with my older, bigger cousins but cautioned me that I was in a “sink or swim” situation. That translated into “you could get hurt and if you do, drowning is not an option nor is coming back to anyone crying about how you got hurt.” Some may look at this as tough love, but it wasn’t. It was my Uncle’s pragmatic way of encouraging me to go ahead and try things that I should be scared of, but to also be mindful of the consequences and be self-reliant enough to get myself out of any trouble I get myself into. That lesson served me well summer after summer as I would annoy my older cousins and usually ended up tossed in the lake for good measure. :-P Hence, learn to “sink or swim.” ;-) There is a lot more I could write about my Uncle Herm, but right now I’m sort of in a fog. This makes the 6th death for me in six months….and the most death in my life in any given year. So I’ll close with a heartfelt thank you to my Uncle for teaching me the value of being grounded, to encourage me to embrace less-than-ladylike qualities, to be as self-reliant as possible, and to not be afraid of those bigger than me….just because they are bigger than me. Lots of good lessons from a pretty remarkable man. https://youtube/watch?v=5zwq9RCeISY
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 02:15:28 +0000
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