ON the first anniverary of Art passing, the family that lives in south Florida got together for dinner. Norm and Diane and Laura and Mike brought over a wonderful Italian dinner.  A very.bad rain storm with thunder and lightening started. As we sat down to dinner the sun came out.  I told the family to look for a rainbow.  As soon as I said that, the most beautiful, brilliant rainbow apeared.  That rainbow lasted for an hour, never losing its color until our dinner was over.  Never in all my life have I seen a rainbow last that long.  We all knew who sent it.  God created the rainbow, but I like to think Art had a part in it also.  It was very comforting to all of us, and we know it was sent to let us know everything is OK.

My Dad & Mom were both very clever. One of the best ideas I thought they had ever come up with was getting married on his birthday. Talk about a date that you simply never forget...and if he did, he could simply say "Hey honey, it's my birthday." Pure Genius!

As we lived our lives together it became easy for us to plan some kind of event on that day or get our parents a special present to celebrate both. Often we would have a dinner or party and all the children would send flowers or call. Usually Art would get his favorite meal...a steak dinner with homemade cheesecake for dessert. Yummy!

One day, Danny had told us about a new Oiless turkey fryer that he had gotten. Well, my father told me that he wanted one and sent me on a mission to aquire it. The first turkey we cooked in it happened to be awesome and it quickly became a family favorite thing to do. We would sit outside and listen to music while the turkey cooked away. Us guys would smoke cigars and have a drink or two. It was a great time that I will always remember. I also will never forget how happy my father was each time we did this. The reason I mention this is because on this Birthday/Anniversary we are going to fry a turkey...it will be in rememberance of those times. And as I found out today....it just so happens that on this day 62 years ago, my mother & father had turkey for their wedding dinner.

As an annual passholder at Disney World, I'm there... a LOT. I've only gone one time since grandpa passed away, and realized something while I was there that I forgot about.

Before the parades at Disney, they have one or two high school or college marching bands play, followed by the grand marshall, and then the floats. My friends and I found a great spot for the parade and sat down, and soon enough, the marching bands came down the street through Frontierland. As soon as I heard the music, I started to cry. I didn't just get teary-eyed, I almost started sobbing. At first, I couldn't figure out why. The songs were happy songs (If I recall correctly, one of the songs was "Happy" by Pharrell Williams). I had no reason to cry... and then it hit me.

When my sister and I were little, we spent MANY parade-meriting holidays sitting on Grandpa's lap, in his big chair, watching the parades. I remember watching the Rose Parade with him more than once, and he told us all about how the floats are made and named off the different kinds of flowers.

I guess the Disney parade just stirred up my memory and brought it to the surface, but I don't mind. It's wonderful to remember the good times.

Arthur Engelskind was a man with some hidden talents that he rarely spoke about. One of his special gifts was his poetry. I will be sharing some of these here. This first one was actually published in an Ohio newsletter when he was still a senior in high school...it is titled "The Rock."

The rock rose black and stern;

with cruel pride rose he.

and every drop that touched his top

Ran suddering back to sea.

Swiftly the fair ship came;

A stately ship was she.

"Come near! Come near! Your port is here!"

Muttered the rock at sea.

For her no warning voice,

For her no friendly bell;

Only the fright of the darkening night

As full the sea did swell.

She struck the tyrant's heart:

She reeled from the lethal shock.

And with her crew, who never knew,

She sank to the foot of the rock.

The rock rose black and stern;

with cruel pride rose he.

and every drop that touched his top

Ran suddering back to sea.

I will be adding a few more of his poems as we organize them.

These are the 9 characters that my father created in the game World of Warcraft since 2007. He had them all at max level of 90. Quite an achievement.

This game gave him something fun to do and also acted as a way to interact with his sons & grandsons. It kept his mind sharp and busy. A few times all three generations actually played together and it was really entertaining.

I remember one time Art Jr., George Jr., and I were watching him do some PvP (Person vs Person) battleground. He was moving his character all around and hitting all his buttons trying to defeat the other player who was trying to do the same to him. Well, he came out victorious, and since most people who play these types of games are generally very young with quick reflexes it was a great win for him. George Jr. commented something like "That's what he gets for messing with an 80 plus year old man & you showed em grandpa." If the other player had only known. :)

All in all Art Jr. and I had a great time playing with our Dad. We all helped each other and together we had a nice family guild. We made many fun & happy memories and he will be missed. We will be closing his account soon and I wanted a piece of what he had achieved preserved here for him. Many people did not know that he played this game on a regular basis...and like most everything he did...he did it well.

There are so many little things that flash through my mind when I think of my amazing Grandpa.The last few times I'd been down to visit my Grandparents, Grandpa seemed to be in especially chatty moods, which I absolutely loved. His stories were the best and I loved hearing about his amazing life.

He told Dylan and I about growing up on a farm and rangling cows. He explained how tiring it can be to have to milk cows every single day and even told us that when he was a child, he used to ride them down the road sometimes. I've always wanted to ride a cow, so I was quite impressed that Grandpa had. :)

He told us stories about his navy days and how he traveled the world, visiting the various countries and picking out things for Grandma along the way. All the while, he kept stopping, saying that he didn't want to waste our time by making us listen to his stories, but we kept urging him on. 

I'd go visit him down in the shop as he played World of Warcraft and he'd run through all his different characters, showing them off to me and telling me what they were and what they could do. Every time he got a new character, we'd go over the whole list again. In June, he showed me the panda he got and ran through a little gameplay. He started getting attacked and told me that the same guy always hunts him down and goes after him. He showed me all the moves he could do and killed the guy that was attacking him. It was great seeing Grandpa enjoying himself so much.

One of my fondest memories of Grandpa was a few years ago at a famiy get together. He was sitting up on the corner ledge of the balcony talking with Uncle Mike and Dylan so I walked up and listened to what they were talking about. After a minute or two I realized that Grandpa was staring at me. I looked at him and he just smiled and said 'You are so beautiful.' I was so caught off guard. I thanked him and he hugged me and said 'I love you little girl.' The look on his face and that strong hug were the best. I will always be your 'little girl' Grandpa and I will never forget how much you loved me and the rest of the family.

After Grandpa had his surgery, I went down to Miami with Aunt Cindy, Uncle George, Carrie and Dylan to see him in the hospital. When I walked into the room, he looked good. The swelling in his arms had gone down, he was smiling and laughing, and the only thing that seemed to be bothering him at all was the tube down his throat used to keep his stomach empty. He seemed to be getting better. 

During this visit, I saw all aspects of his personality. I saw his stubborn and protective sides when he yelled at me (lovingly) to "stop drinking those damn sodas" (and I haven't had one since!). I saw the teasing, silly side when he told me to stop stepping all over his tubes. And finally, I saw the storyteller when he told us one final crazy story.

He was telling us that they need to stop cutting holes in him because he has enough scars, and began going through all his scars and telling us what each of the scars came from. He said "I've got this one from this surgery, these are from the heart surgery, this one from when I got shot..." and we stopped him there. WHAT? YOU GOT SHOT?! IN THE LEG?! GRANDPA!!!! HOW COULD YOU NEVER TELL US THIS! He told us it was embarrassing, but he was helping to load a wounded soldier onto his Navy Ship, and took him to the medic, and the medic said "Your leg is bleeding pretty bad!" He looked down and touched his leg, and out popped a little bullet. It was superficial, but it was still a bullet in his leg! "And that's why they wanted to give me a purple heart," he told us, "but it was too embarrassing." 

...And that's when I saw the tough-as-nails side of my Grandpa for the last time. A bullet in his leg wasn't impressive enough to talk about because it didn't go deep enough. The story hasn't been authenticated, but we did see a small, circular, hole-shaped scar on his upper thigh, which is good enough for me. I hugged him goodbye, and told him I'd see him on Friday. I never thought that he'd pass the next morning... I'm so saddened by the loss of my sweet Grandpa, but I'll always have that last incredible story to hold onto and remember him by.

There are so many wonderful stories to tell and so many great memories to share, but for as long as I live, I will NEVER forget that one Sunday afternoon the bravery my father showed.  It started out to be a gorgeous, picture perfect day.  Diane and Norman were home on a visit from Germany where Norman was stationed with the army.   We all wanted to go fishing, so Dad took the whole crew!  It was Diane & Norman, Cindy & George, Artie, Dad and me.  David stayed home with Mom to accompany her to church.   We had the most perfect day ~ beautiful sky, calm seas and lots of laughter!  

I was up on the flybridge with Dad, who was driving the boat.  I often sat up there with him, looking for weed line or birds diving, in search of dolphin.   I had been well trained by him!  I began to notice some concern in his voice as he notices the dark clouds on the horizon that had formed on shore.  He didn't want to worry me and he said, "I think we can out run it, honey.  It'll be okay."  As the clouds grew darker and larger, he began to realize that we better hunker down because it was coming much quicker than anyone realized.  He told me I better get down to the main deck with my siblings. 

Before we knew it, we were in the thick of things and the boat was being tossed around like a toy on an angry sea.  The skies were black and the wind and rain were so fierce that we could hardly see. The waves were taller than the boat and it looked like the opening scene from Giligan's Island. The wind was howling and whipping the water off of the waves.   Artie was able to get a diving mask up to dad so he could at least keep the salt water out of his eyes and see to drive.  My sisters and I were all sitting on a huge Igloo cooler filled with ice, food and drinks, and it still lifted up off the floor of the boat quite a few times.  Artie handed out the  life vests ~ just in case.  I was never so scared in all my life.  I was shaking uncontrollabley.   It was not so much the fear of loosing my own life, but all I kept thinking about was my poor mom, loosing four of her children, two son-in-laws and her husband all in one day.   I was also thinking that I should have stayed home and gone to church that day!!  Believe me, there was a lot of praying going on that day on that boat!!  

It seemed like that storm lasted for hours, but I'm sure it wasn't.  Fear has a way of exaggerating reality. We finally got a break in the weather and the rest as they say....is history.  I am very grateful to the "the captain" who braved that storm and got us safely through.  Shout out to the first mate too.  Artie, you're a chip off of the old block!  We started our voyage off out of Ft Lauderdale and by the time Dad got us to land, we were in Palm Beach.  We had been blown quite a long ways north.   He was definitely a super hero that day, for all of us. 

Lesson learned Daddy,  always love and respect the ocean and Mother Nature.

One morning, when I was just a toddler, I woke up, walked into the kitchen and told my mom "Today, I want to catch a fish." She turned to me and said, "I have the perfect person for that," and after breakfast, she put me in the car and drove me straight to my Grandparents house. I told my Grandpa that I wanted to catch a fish today, and he said "Well, alright!" and took me into his workshop to help him gather all the supplies.

Once we had gathered everything, my Grandma, Mom, Grandpa and I walked out through the backyard to the canal. He baited my hook, taught me how to cast, and showed me how to reel it in. After ten minutes, I had caught my first fish! Everyone was so excited, and so proud of me, but all I could say was "hmm, okay!" and I walked back into the house by myself and left them at the canal.

My mom makes fun of me, but I did say I wanted to catch A fish.  


Thank you, Grandpa, for all the valuable lessons you taught me over the years, and for helping me catch my first fish. 

One of the funniest memories I have of Arthur was the time his son, Artie, took him to a doctor's appointment and then stopped at a grocery store on the way home.  At the store, Arthur was picking up all sorts of goodies and putting them in the cart, without looking to see what they really were.  If they looked yummy...they went in the cart.  When they got home, I saw this nice looking package of golden brown pastries sitting on the table, and picked them up to read the label.  The label read, "Meat Pastries."  

Hmmm....how interesting.  Must be a Florida cuisine thing, because being from Colorado, we fill our pastries with apples, cherries, and even pudding,  but never meat.  

I asked Arthur about meat pastry, and he said, "What?" he'd never heard of them either.  He hadn't realized the filling was some form of animal, not fruit.

By this time, we were all laughing so hard our sides hurt.  He ripped open the package and tore open the pastry.  Inside was a brownish substance that looked like potted mystery meat, or perhaps ground dog food.  He took a bite, but I think he was the only one brave enough to do so.  The rest of us just kind of sat there, snickering, while being really grossed out.

It was quickly decided, that these wonderful delicacies should be frozen and saved for dog treats.  However, it seems like the dog didn't like them much either, so David ended up feeding them to a stray cat and her kittens.  Shortly after he gave them to the cats, they took off and he hasn't seen them since.

Being around Arthur was always a hoot.  He had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to laugh.  I will really miss that laughter.