For those of you who know me well enough…you know that I share my birthday with one of the most incredible people in the Broadway-Fillmore Area, my Babcia (grandmother).
She turned 90 today!
We all have heroes in our lives or people we look up to. For me, my grandmother has been the source of inspiration for me since I don’t know when.
She has outlived two of her sons…two husbands…countless relatives, etc…and she keeps going… She has lived through the rise and fall of the East Side…and she keeps going…
Over the weekend the family put together a huge party for her. In typical grandma fashion with the bad weather in WNY, she was more concerned about her guests comfort then her own.
This is only part of the story of her life…
Grandma still lives right next door to my childhood home in the shadow of the Terminal. My aunts and mother have tried to no avail to get her to leave the neighborhood, she has refused for as long as I can remember.
For me at least, she symbolizes everything I aspire to be in life. She has always helped friends, neighbors, strangers, community and family. In this day and age where it seems we have a lot of people who say…”Look what I do…”, she was one to say what can I do… She never asks why someone needs help, she asks what can she do to help. I call it the Polish value system…something akin to what made Mr. Kaminski the man he was…the quiet sense of community and giving back without looking for accolades is something we can all learn from.
She also taught me about the pride I should have about where I came from and that I should never be ashamed for being Polish. I guess in a lot of ways that is why I am so heavily involved in the old neighborhood…her love and wisdom lives in me and guides me to do what I do… I wish I had the time to write so much more about her…someday I will…
For now, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!! You are my hero!
