When I was a little kid there was a place that I really liked to visit on the weekends- my grandparents. Or, as my family and I called it, “Up the House.” Mommom and Poppop lived in Elverson. It was just minutes from Reading, Pennsylvania. Their names are Nick and Josephine.
There was something about their house that was really special to me. It was a rancher style home with a reddish color deck and a huge pond outback. It was the country for my brother and me. We had a blast up there. The house sat along side a busy road, not a residential road. You could hear the cars whizzing by, but it was still congestion free and open land everywhere. We could see farms as far as the eye could see.
My poppop, Nick was a burly, strong man. He was so strong that one time he stopped a running bull on Kerlin Street in Chester, Pennsylvania. The circus was in town and the bull got loose until Nick got his hands on the horns and tackled him down to the ground, hence, his nickname, “Nicky the Bull.”
My Poppop would eat anything. And, I mean anything. Raw sausages, sardines, sour tasting fruit, and lots of pasta and meat. He grew up during the depression and nothing went to waste.
Our family hoagie shops were started by Nick and Josie. There I learned so much. I learned how to deal with all walks of life and to earn an honest dollar. It was my family and this will become our legacy in this small town.
I was very fond of my grandparents. I loved when it came time to visit them. My Poppop would come with his big truck that he affectionately named, Betsy. He and my Mommom would pick us up on a Friday evening for the long weekend. Our favorite place to sit was in the truck bed because Poppop always had the cabin on it and he would leave the window between us open to chat. My brother and I would take turns popping our head in between our grandparent’s seats to talk.
First stop, greasy McDonald’s. Grandparents are always good for giving you what your parents won’t. We ate on the way because it was an hour long drive that seemed like forever for me and my brother.
When we pulled in the long driveway we would get slightly giddy. We knew we would be spoiled all weekend long. I would wake up to my bacon and tomato sandwiches made with love by Mommom. After my cholesterol breakfast it was time for Saturday morning cartoons.
The thing that made Saturday morning cartoons so much fun was seeing which one of us got to my Poppop’s big brown, recliner first. It was his seat in the house. He wore it out with all his naps and it was so big and comfortable. There was just something about that chair that we all loved. Me, my brother, my cousins and everyone else always wanted to sit in Nick’s chair.
By the afternoon, my brother and I were down by the pond. We really enjoyed fishing. My Poppop would be out by his garden and I would always walk over to help him pick his tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn. A little girl could only fish so long. I loved helping when I was “Up the House.”
After the garden, Poppop would make his way into his wine cellar. Homemade "Diego Red" is what us Italians called it. It was the strongest wine you ever tasted…I promise. One sip would put you on your butt! He always let us try a little. I never did take a liking to it. Sorry, Nick.
Mommom and I loved to play bingo with her sisters. I was the little girl with all the old ladies yelling out “Bingo” for all the winners. I never really liked the prizes. A kid can’t really get excited over a turkey, ham, or crock-pot. Now, the places that paid money…I could totally get into. A kid has to have a stash to pay for Barbie’s and dolls.
One of my favorite places in Reading was Farmer Brown’s. It was a grocery store with a Wagon Wheel in the front and they had games for kids in the front like most grocery stores did. They had a little gift shop too. I still have the two hugging koala bears that Mommom bought me one time. I loved that stuffed animal. It will forever remind me my childhood.
On occasion we would go see my grandparent’s siblings. Carl Furillo was my grandfather’s brother and we would go visit him. He was a major league baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was on the 1955 World Series team. We have baseball in our blood. My grandfather taught him how to play the game. Nick played in the minor leagues until he had to leave for World War II.
Every time I watch “Field of Dreams” I think of my family. It’s just one of those feelings that I get made by memories we’ve made.
One time Carl and his family were cutting corn off the cob and freezing it. I thought this was really interesting. I guess as a child I was really amazed by this. It’s the simple things in life. My brother and I often laugh at my excitement over this.
We would head up to Mommom’s sister’s house a lot. It was there that I would walk around this very old home and look at all the handmade quilts, antique furniture, old family pictures, and get lost in time. I always had a very good imagination. Maybe it’s where I get my affinity for antiques today.
When you are a kid, you’re the apple of everyone’s eyes. You can’t do anything wrong and you get spoiled by all of them. If you take the time to listen to what your elder’s are truly saying, you will definitely learn about life. I know I did.
Josephine had a collection of old scarves, they were little handmade handkerchiefs that I adored and used to love to go through. Nick had quite the hat collection in his spare bedroom. He kept them in the room we all slept in when we had our sleepovers. One by one we tried them all on and would pick one to where everyday.
Mommom gave me bubble baths and let me stay in the tub for a real long time. I loved it. She would run the hot water and put some Palmolive in it. Not so sure that was a good idea, but this was at least twenty-five years ago. And, well, the suds were bubbly. Better than the bubblegum junk other kids got to use. I still love the smell of Palmolive today. It’s the only dish soap I use and I only use it on dishes.
The town was small, the house was perfect, and the pond was enormous. The lessons I learned from an early age will never be forgotten.
Lots of lessons came from the pond. One year I pushed the neighbor in the muddy water with her new sneakers on because she was picking on me. She cried all the way home and I got in a little trouble, but nothing too bad. One time we tried ice skating on thin ice. Never a good idea. We must have had angels by our side that day. Nick almost killed us for that one. And, during a heat wave one summer in the eighties the shallow end dried up and we could actually run across the pond. That was really something to see.
I learned to play cards with Mommom. Every night we sat down with a deck and played for a while before bed. Everyday Poppop tried to get me to bite into a grapefruit. He seemed to enjoy it. I wasn’t fooled by that or the lemons he ate like candy.
One night in the dense thick fog my Poppop was craving pizza. He sent me and my Mommom out for it. We couldn’t even see six inches ahead of us. Since I was super bright I told her to turn around and let’s go home. We still laugh about that today. No pizza for Nick on that night.
You could always find Dentyne gum in the kitchen drawer. It was Poppop’s favorite and mine too. Lots of memories were made “Up the House.” Memories that will remain in my mind forever.
Nick’s garage always smelled like gasoline and oil. He was always fixing or making something. He was a working man. He was part of the generation of men that could do it all. I miss him all the time. He died when I was eleven, just eight days before my twelfth birthday. I wish he had been around a lot longer. He missed out on so much. He was only seventy years old. When I was little that seemed so old, but now I know it’s too young to say goodbye.
Josephine is eight-nine years old. She’s doing really well. After my Poppop passed she moved out of the house. It was so hard to say goodbye to the rancher with the reddish deck, long driveway, and huge pond outback.
It was so hard to say goodbye to the memories. It was one of the saddest days of my life. Easter egg hunts, Snowy Christmas days, and fireworks on the fourth, would now just be a memory of what used to be.
When I think about “Up the House” I think about my life. These two people were part of my creation. They’re my father’s parents and my blood line. They are part of what makes me who I am today.
I think Nick would be proud of how I turned out. I have guts, I’m not afraid to speak my mind, and I am independent. Maybe some of those qualities come from him.
Poppop, if you are listening, thanks for being you. I wish we had more time.
You can search far and wide to find yourself. You can look up, down, side by side, and all around. You can read books, listen to psychics, travel the world, and try new things.
But, to really find yourself sometimes you have to go back to the basics. You just need to look at your family. Sometimes you just have to go “Up the House” and you will remember who you are and where you came from.
And, if the house isn’t there or the people have moved on, you can still go there in your mind. Your memories will never leave you. I haven’t been to Elverson in years, but I promise I still go “Up the House.” That’s one place that I will never forget how to find and one place I will never lose my way…even if it’s only in my mind.
