Farmer, Carpenter, Explorer

Last updated on: May 1, 2017 at 8:10 pm by Mary Pezzulo

Farmer, Carpenter, Explorer 2017-05-01T20:10:47-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

peaches-1612553_640

It turns out that my grandpa was not a farmer.

I thought he was, when I was a very little girl. His house was a big brick farmhouse on a triple lot, the biggest plot of land I had ever seen. And on that triple lot was a picture-perfect garden. There were fruit trees on his lot, and a grape alley, a patch for strawberry bushes near the house and a huge patch for vegetables on the far side of the yard. He grew bushels of tomatoes that my grandmother made into glass jars of pasta sauce– not the bland slimy puree that children my age liked to eat, but a chunky and robust sauce for grown-ups. In late summer, he harvested enough peaches to fill the trunk of their van, and my grandmother canned those and made them into cobblers. In my mind, that made him a farmer, just like the farmer grandfathers that always showed up in children’s books.

It turns out my grandpa wasn’t a professional carpenter, either. I thought he was. He had a roomful of carpentry equipment in the basement, and he made the most brilliant works of art there– cutout life-sized Nativity figures for the lawn at Christmas, playhouses with working porch lights, meticulously accurate Victorian dollhouses with trapdoors and balconies; good sturdy furniture with slick, shiny finish. That was all a hobby, something to keep his hands busy. It wasn’t how he made his living.

Grandpa wasn’t a brilliant world explorer, either. I thought he was. He and my grandmother left the country on vacation every year and came back with albums of snapshots of all the places they’d been. They liked to go bird watching in tropical countries, with jungles and strange wildlife. Once, they went to Egypt and brought me back a t-shirt with my name in hieroglyphics. Once, they went on Safari in Kenya. Once they went to Ireland to see where our ancestors came from. Wherever they went, someone would stop my grandpa and ask for directions. He was a man who always looked like he knew what he was doing.

Grandpa liked to explore when he was home in this country, as well. He took his grandchildren to the duck pond, and on walks in the woods. Grandpa knew every bird’s name and call; he knew every tree just by looking at its bark. I thought he might be a naturalist.

Grandpa wasn’t a professional storyteller, but he could have been. He was brilliant at telling stories. He used to take me on his lap and tell me stories of the summers he spent on his great aunt’s farm, in West Virginia, during the Great Depression. One year, it was his job to run and get water from the spring for all the hired hands. One year, he and his siblings had accidentally started a brush fire that burned down a whole field.

When I was very little, I supposed that my grandfather was an actual pioneer and had lived on his aunt’s farm in the days of covered wagons and horse-drawn carriages. I was deeply humiliated when my parents found out what I’d thought, but they got a good laugh over it.

It turned out that what Grandpa was, was a doctor– an internist. He worked at the same hospital for fifty years, then officially retired, but kept seeing patients for many more years after that. Lord knows how many lives he saved in all his years at that hospital. He saved my aunt’s life, when she called him complaining of severe abdominal pain and he told her to go to the hospital right away.

My mother and her sisters were always calling my grandfather with medical questions. She would call my grandfather before calling my pediatrician every time I managed to convince her I was sick– her first response to my sickness was usually to call me a hypochondriac or tell me I was exaggerating for attention. Once my symptoms got bad enough that she believed I wasn’t faking them, she would call my grandfather, who lived six hours away, and describe her version of them. If he said it was serious, I got taken to the pediatrician or the emergency room. My mother would say “My father, who is an internist, said…” and the doctor would diagnose me with what he heard the internist had said. Rare is the doctor who will go against an internist, even when that internist is six hours away.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 29, 2017

A Heavy Hand: A Review of Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale"

Next Post

May 2, 2017 Cyril And Methodius Invent The Russian Language: A Play In One Act

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to 2 John, anyone who does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Salvation The Holy Spirit Truth God