Sunday, May 15, 2011

MY HUMBLE LOVE ~ By Absolutely*Kate

My Humble Love
 By ~ Absolutely*Kate
Hummingbirds darted into all the action on the patio back in Ohio where Franny and Paul's kids put sorrow and grief aside (away?) to hustle a home into a house ready for another young family to find and grow up their own kinds of joys.  Mementos were shared. Closets, cupboards, rooms, basements, garages gave way their furnishings and adornments, tools and tenacities to family, friends, neighbors, the timely church rummage sale (where Franny used to skim good pickins' for the church card party that she chaired) or the Happy Dumpster -- all in a matter of 4 hard hustling days. 
FRANNY & PAULTOGETHER AGAIN
We done the ultimate of superb parents proud, parents who provided home and heart in love, laughter, learning;  parents who treasured well the people who walk into and fill our lives with real colour;  parents with values and propensity to work smarter not harder, (Paul's credo), and ever to leave a moment kinder, stronger, better than you found it.
In a literal "labour of love", Kate, Dave, Jim, Lorri and Jeff Pilarcik closed full and fine the chapter of where we came from . . . ergo a softer (thus stronger) peace now exists to hold high the beacon to where we're going. 
My Thanks for how you tremendously kind folks were with me on chronicles and bolsterings, prayers and good vibrations along this bittersweet journey of bidding farewell to the reunited love birds, Franny and Paul, who fell in love on a dance floor when she was a sparkling 19 and he a dashing 21, a young man going places with just the right gal at his side. There remains ever a remarkable awareness of their presence in mine and my valued siblings, mates and our collective children's lives. 
I'll hold close this core into a new sense of clarity. 
My humble love,
AbsolutelyKate
 
God Bless Paul Edward Pilarcik
~ Who believed in the goodness of folks and the Pittsburgh Steelers, teasing into deep laughter, his Slovak father's grapevines, bountiful gardens, supervisory skills more like coaching, the wealth of a good cup of coffee on a back patio, and winning a ball game against all odds even if it was the 9th inning
29 June, 1930   ~   22 September, 2010
~ JOINED TOGETHER AGAIN ~ 
God Bless Frances Delores Kozel Pilarcik
 ~ Who favoured family, friends, flourishing faith, flowers and fine fun; who wrote and created and painted, who gave without measure, touching forever the lives she graced
13 October, 1932  ~  3 May, 2011
FRANNY & PAUL ~  TOGETHER AGAIN
 

7 comments:

Matthew S. Magda said...

Kate, you honored your parents in a most loving way. Their legacy as loving, generous, just plain good people will live through the years. You and your sister and brothers carry on that way of life and thinking and continue to pass it on to your children and to all those blessed to have experienced the "Pilarcik way." Franny and Paul must indeed be happy and proud. They truly had a "good life" in the full depth and breath meaning of that expression. Their love is eternal.

Kevin Michaels said...

Very nicely written Kate (and Matt's comments put a very nice exclaimation point to it). Those of us who are friends and follow your writing have gotten to know all about that strength of your parents love as well as their values and the depth of their character. Through you and your words we've gotten to know them and we're all a little better for that. Hold on to those memories and find strength in their love.

seana graham said...

Kate, you are living testimony to their love and good efforts. Thanks for the wedding photo. It helps us know the journey of their marriage a little.

Going through your parents' things is daunting work, yet also a privilege.

KjM said...

A friend of ours, a priest of an Eastern Rite church, shortly after my father's death mentioned to me a prayer, an evocation, used within his tradition.

My his memory be eternal!

So long as he remained in memory, so long he would remain present.

And so with your parents, *Kate. You have ensured, and are ensuring, that their memory be eternal for you have gifted those of us reading your writings with glimpses of these two people.

To paraphrase and adapt a line from a poem of my father's

I never knew them - and I envy those who did.

Indeed, may their memory be eternal.

My best to you and yours.

Ténèbres à la lumière... said...

Hello! Kate...
This was a simple, and eloquent reflection about your parents lives together here on this earth.
Thank-you, so much for sharing!
DeeDee
[Postscript:
He (Father) was dashing and she (Mother) was a "beautiful" bride too!]

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Beautiful, Kate, just beautiful. Your parents were lucky to have such a fine daughter honour them so well and I know for sure that you and your siblings were even luckier to have wonderful parents.
Best wishes in your days ahead. I hope you and your family continue to 'be there' for each other. That, too, is a lucky thing.
Big hugs!!!!!!!
And, wow, what a beautiful couple!!!

Author said...

That's beautiful, Kate, such a wonderful, moving tribute.