Some Enchanted Evening . . .

Have you ever wondered who first decided that a week should begin on Sunday? I have always lived my life as Monday as the first day of the week but for all intensive purposes, at least for this post, we will begin the week as Sunday.

This Sunday had special meaning to me.  Sunday, July 31st, 2011 is the 13th anniversary of my grandmother's death.  Mind you, I have two grandmothers, one living, and one only alive in heaven - the one who is still on this earth I am not especially close to.   My dearly departed grandmother, Carol, was my maternal grandmother (my mother's mother) and we always called her Grandma (my other grandmother we refer to as "Nana.")  I have met allot of people in my time and aside from my mother, my grandmother is hands down the most fascinating and extraordinary person I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  Her passing left a giant void in my life and an irreplacable hole in my heart; I miss her every time I think about her - she's the only person who's ever died that it actually physically hurts to remember.

That being said, in this post I choose to remember the wonderful and not the painful.  Grandma and Papa (her husband who is still alive) were and still are my heroes; they had a marriage that survives outside of time and space and this is their story.

Grandma was from Brooklyn, NY and her family (back in the 50's) lived in one of "the old neighborhood(s)" as she would call it.  Everybody knew everybody; kids played stick ball in the street and were summoned in for dinner from the windows of their apartment buildings as their mothers would stick their heads out.  Grandma always spoke of Brooklyn fondly and very much called it home.  Grandma came from a long line of fisherman and in the summer months her whole family (her parents, brother, and sister) would pack up and go out to the hamptons for the summer.  Mind you, this was before the hamptons were glitzy and only for the rich and famous.

Papa is from Eastern Long Island (where I currently live) and his family raised him out here.  Papa also came from a long line of fishermen and being an island boy, he spent most of his days at the beach.  Ah the roaring 50's, a time where swing dancing was very much still alive.

My grandparents met one summer that my grandmother came out to the hamptons.  Grandma had decided to join a few of her friends in a night out at a local swing dance club.  Papa had similarly decided to go to this club, which is now called "The Beach Bar" and exists to this day.  Grandma had filled out her dance card almost completely (yes, back then there were dance cards!) when she decided to take a break and rest against the wall.  While she rested against the wall, she was people watching when suddenly, across the dance floor, she saw Papa.  Their eyes met, it was fate, and from that moment they knew it would be forever (these are their words and their story, hollywood could do it no better.)  My grandfather, never being short of courage, asked my grandmother to dance and from that point on she danced with noone else.  They frequented many other places that summer but for as far back as I remember my grandparents always cited that first night as "the night" they would never forget. 

For those of you who have seen South Pacific, there is a song called, "Some Enchanted Evening."  My grandparents both claim that song as their song because it really is the story of how they met, "some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger, across a crowded room" and they followed the song's advice, to never let eachother go.  How romantic is that?

Now mind you, their marriage had its ups and downs (some very high ups and some very dismal downs) but no matter what, they never forgot what brought them together.  That story carried them through when my grandfather was shipped off in the Navy.  It continued on their anniversary in Hawaii where they had special pearl divers make them four beautiful individual jewelry pieces that my brother and I inherited (two pieces for me and two pieces for Johnny's future wife.)

You see, my grandmother was allot of things and one of them was thoughtful! She knew that she may not be around to meet my older brother's future spouse or my own but she prayed for them, every day.  She also set aside special heirlooms for them so that even if they couldn't meet her, they would have something to link them to our family and especially to her.  When I get married, my husband will have Papa's wedding ring and when Johnny gets married his wife will have Grandma's wedding ring. 

I pray that I grow up to be even half the amazing woman that my grandmother was in her short 59 years of life.  She left her mark on this earth and touched everyone that she ever met.  Tonight I leave you with the lyrics to their song; the story of their meeting . . . but the story of their life together lives on in me.  I hope to one day experience what they felt for myself in my own incredible romantic story.  Untill then . . .

"Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger,
you may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know,
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again.

Some enchanted evening
Someone may be laughin',
You may hear her laughin'
Across a crowded room
And night after night,
As strange as it seems
The sound of her laughter
Will sing in your dreams.

Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons,
Wise men never try.

Some enchanted evening
When you find your true love,
When you feel her call you
Across a crowded room,
Then fly to her side,
And make her your own
For all through your life you
May dream all alone.

Once you have found her,
Never let her go.
Once you have found her,
Never let her go!"