Today is my sons 8th birthday. I should be preparing his favorite meal and picking up his chocolate on chocolate cake with blue writing and flowers. Instead today I have set his remembrance tile at school and brought balloons and a chocolate on chocolate donut to his grave.. We also picked ava up from school early because she is too upset to be there..Im extremely angry and bitter. He should be celebrating and telling me how today is his day, instead hell always be 6 and his height chart stops there too..He should be telling me how cool it is that the eagles are playing on Monday night football and its his birthday, instead Im not sure if Ill even turn the game on....I really wanted to write something positive about yesterday; which was a great time, Im too bitter and angry. Sorry. I was thinking what can I write to honor his birthday, then I thought about what else could I write about him that I havent written already , then it came to me, his eulogy. Im not a great public speaker and especially saying his eulogy that day but I did it and I still cant believe I did it. So here it is. If anyone that knows me knows I am and numbers person Rocco lived on this earth for 2838 days out of those days he fought this beast for 449 days thats almost 18 percent of his life you would think I would have enough days to prepare a speech for him and Im here to tell you its not .Rocco was roughly three and a half foot tall and weighed 41 pounds Im six foot tall and 260 pounds .Rocco had more courage in his pinky that I have in my whole body he didnt lose his fight or battle he sacrificed his life to kill the beast now were the ones lost Do I regret not being prepared no because those past 449 days he showed me and everyone that knew him how to live life and life lessons so it left little time to prepare a speech so I dont regret it one bit .Im sure that many of you that are here today Rocco touched you in some way whether it was a waiter ,a hairdresser, a teacher, a neighbor, pool member the mailman or UPS driver he had a way of making you love him. those who didnt know him I would like to give you a good description of him Rocco was an old soul in every sense of the meaning I would always catch myself calling him onery telling him to stop giving everyone guff.Rocco had no choice in the matter to be honest with you it all started when Carol was 24 weeks pregnant and a nurse accidentally told carol that yes its still a boy and of course I didnt let carol tell me until she couldnt hold it in anymore then came the delivery when I got into an argument with the anesthesiologist weather carol got an epidural or not from there after a very hard delivery Rocco came out like a ball fire ruining my brand new pair of sneakers in the process which Rocco loved hearing that story his name was also a hectic process that set off an uproar amongst our families what an appropriate name it turned out to be as Rocco got older his real personality came out from a young age we were always eat as a family in the morning I would set the table and then I was off to work ,for supper I would come home first and set the table and make supper but boy if I didnt have the table set Rocco would yell were not eating supper, see there is that old soul again Rocco had a no filter asking or saying anything that was on his mind including asking asking Philly Phanatic what are you a bird and what else and are you a boy or girl he also gave us words that he always used including what a rip-off ,awesome ,you want to know why, I got a really big brain, thats terrible ,thats horrible and of course thats really weird he gave my friends who he called his uncles nicknames that they will be called forever, the names include uncle ears, hippo joe, uncle Johnny uncle elf ,uncle fudge cakes, twigs and of course my personal favorite uncle Flintstone. Rocco never tried to be funny he just was. many people say Rocco was just like me but to be honest he had a lot of his grandpas traits who was like an old soul himself he had my dad, his pop Pops quick wit ,my acceptance of getting gifts which his stories are legendary and he had his mothers kind heart who Rocco loved more than anyone. Rocco would often say he wanted to marry his momma and when I told him that you marry your girlfriend and he said mommy is my girlfriend and your girlfriend is a dog which I often refer my dog gertie my girl so he was right again! Rocco was a very smart boy he has taught me many things but the biggest lesson he taught me was about today. todays a day for hugging your family and friends, today is the day to sit down and play games with your kids, today is the day to tell people you love, that you love them not to be put off till tomorrow because none of us are promised tomorrow. we never told Rocco of his prognosis and Im glad we didnt not because he would have given up he wanted to live but we would have never been able to hear him say when a doctor would ask him if anything was wrong he would either say yeah I got asthma! and when they asked us if he had any allergies and before we could answer Rocco would say yes Im allergic to grass and pollen! Im confident that Rocco is in a better place now hes no longer sick or hurting he was the most courageous person I have ever met.he never once complained about pain or taking medicine he wanted to get better so bad we are so blessed to have these past four hundred forty nine days with you on earth we lived most of these days to the fullest he change my whole perspective on life I will forever be your daddy and a better husband, father, Son, friend .Thank you Rocco it is been an honor being your daddy. I personally believe we have witnessed an angel on earth who was sent here to help us all learn a little about hugs, love, family, friends, God and heaven. I cannot finish this without mentioning Roccos big sister ava and his best buddy Danny .Ava you are the best big sister Rocco could ever have you have always let Rocco pick first whether what the occasion was. you always put Rocco first even before this horrible journey began,youre the greatest. Danny you are Roccos best buddy you guys are so much different but so much alike you are two halves that made one whole. we will all work to remind you of your love for each other and the bond you shared. in closing I would like to tell one church story about Rocco. one Sunday before mass started Rocco and Danny were fidgeting and I looked at carol and Aunt Dawn who then proceeded to tell them to kneel and pray . Rocco kneels and says the Pledge of Allegiance really loud! everyone around was laughing .After mass ended. I told Rocco that it wasnt a prayer and he said yes it is, it has god in it! So in remembrance of that I would like to ask everyone to rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance and Roccos honor thank you
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 21:08:05 +0000
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