Who doesn’t like a surprise?
Most do and some don’t, but when it comes to family, surprises could be the best.
Nowadays, it’s not unusual for families to be disbursed all over the country and even all over the world.
Many decades ago and further, once you graduated from high school, if you were afforded the opportunity to graduate, you stayed in the area where you were born and raised. It was more the exception to the rule that you moved away for a career.
Naturally, young men involved with the service were often stationed all over the world. It was probably the only opportunity to break away from Greater Pittston, for example, otherwise you found a job, bought a house, lived and died in perhaps a few blocks were you grew up if not in the house you were born or raised in.
Today, it is very commonplace to leave the area after high school graduation and go away to college getting exposed to other areas outside of the place you grew up.
It’s easy to get enamored with other areas; after all, doesn’t life always look greener on the other side, especially at first?
I can’t tell you how many times I went on vacation to other areas wondering what it would have looked like if I was born and raised there or moved there after high school.
The first time I vacationed at Florida, I was thinking, “Yeah, I can get used to this pretty quickly” or “Why didn’t my ancestors emigrate to a much warmer climate?”
I’ve often stated of my dislike for cold climate weather and seeing how winter is in a warmer area like Florida always made me interested in moving away.
It’s tough being entrenched in the area where you grew up; it makes it all that much harder to move away. I always gave credit to those that moved away during adulthood.
One such person is my friend Michael Caputo, who was a Pittstonian through and through. He was one of those guys I figured that was born, raised, educated and would retire right here in Greater Pittston.
Nope, that didn’t happen. Mike and his wife, Ann, moved about 1,800 miles from Pittston to Colorado Springs to be closer to Ann’s daughter and grandchildren. That move is more common than I thought and even though it is said you should never follow your children to wherever they may live, it has worked just fine for the Caputos.
Mike has adjusted quite well as a Colorado resident.
The same could be said for my older brother, Frank, and his wife, the former Mary Ellen Repasky of Harding.
The two married on June 15, 1974, 50 years ago, at St. Anthony of Padua Church, Exeter. My brother was in the Army and Mary was out of high school but a year when she married at the age of 19.
My brother was one of those that were able to see the country outside of the Greater Pittston box and he liked what he saw.
The last place he was stationed while in the service was Fort Carson, Colorado. The two ended up settling in Colorado Springs before bouncing around in other Colorado communities, such as Green Mountain Falls and Woodland Park.
Eventually, with three children in tow, the duo packed everyone and everything and moved back to Greater Pittston where all three children graduated from Wyoming Area.
It didn’t take too long for the three children to eventually migrate back to Colorado, Denver specifically, after college.
Living in Exeter for a while as empty nesters, Frank and Mary packed up one more time and eventually ended up in the little town of Lake George, Colorado.
Even though they were still about two hours from their children, they were far away enough to give the children space and close enough to visit on a weekend.
It was an arrangement that seemed to work for everyone, and they have been back for nearly 15 years now.
Personally, I wish they lived back in Greater Pittston but that is the selfish side of me. Colorado is a great place to visit, but it’s not for me and I can respect that.
With that said, with family in Colorado, it’s not very conducive for making closer family life. There have been many, too many, times when they could not make it back to NEPA for holidays or family party occasions or even a death or two in the family, for them to make it home.
My sister-in-law Mary was felling down a few months ago when we discussed their upcoming 50th anniversary and having no one to celebrate it with as a family.
It got me thinking; maybe we family members at home could surprise them with a visit on or near their anniversary?
After secretively planning a surprise visit and party with my sister and my brother’s children, Operation Anniversary Surprise was on.
This past Thursday evening after a day of traveling, we picked up a few pizzas and knocked at their door at 8 p.m. for a pizza delivery. Needless-to-say, when the door was answered, the tears began to flow.
We got to hang out on Friday together and on yesterday, we had a formal party at a local restaurant. It was super nice to be with family, and it’s not often we all get together as a family and the only two missing where my two daughters.
Happy 50th Frank and Mary!
Quote of the Week
“The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly.” – Paul de Vries
Thought of the Week
“One should believe in marriage as in the immortality of the soul.” – Honore de Blazac
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