D’ya ever see a dead man fall out of a window?”

My grandfather was accomplished. Above all he was a real character. Many Sunday’s “Pop” would drive from his apartment in Germantown, Philadelphia to our home in the ‘burbs. Visit, have dinner with us. He arrived this one time and had to “relieve himself”… after all he was in his 70s. Pop was slight. Stooped over by arthritis. Three piece suit always. Cigar dangling from his mouth. Got the picture?

He returns from the bathroom. His fly is down. “Hey, Pop… your zipper is down, at half mast.” A wry smile, a glance our way, cigar dangling. Then this…

“What the hell ya worried about? D’ya ever see a dead man fall out of a window?

“Where did the classics like my Pop go? Your fathers, mothers, uncles, all their friends. The jokes, the spontaneity, that simple, wonderful joyous way of living life. Always so plain spoken… just fun. Many I can remember. Better known? Will Rogers, Jonathan Winters, John Wayne, Harry Truman, Johnny Carson. These few just jump into my mind. Who would you add? You know the truth tellers. Hilarious until you could laugh, hurt no more. Of course they operated with a lot less interference, “noise.” Could live with a routine. Up early, home early. Dinner with family most days?

Oh the vices were there. Alcohol. We didn’t know as much about the dangers then. Smoking. Until the ban by Surgeon General, Dr. Luther Terry in the early ’60s, we would live in the smell, the passive smoke almost anywhere. God only knows the sickness this may have caused.

But that’s what we knew then. Cars drove slower. Music lyrics of the time we’re understandable. Sinatra, Como, Crosby. We had our morning newspapers, a milkman… can you imagine? My father, a classic, for sure was irreverent. Loud. Love? He’d say, “Phooey! That’s for sissies.” Watched Paladin, the Friday night fights, World War II documentaries. But he loved us so. Most of the classics, the men of that era, felt the loving was for the women. The mantra? Men should never cry… women should never get angry. So much for that today, huh.

Am I glad we’ve moved on to a much more open world? I think so. I often harken back in the memories. You know who your classic characters, were. Oh do you ever! One thing we will always treasure in common with those who came before us. We love our families. Love keeping those close to us closest to us. From beginning to end.

The feelings I have for Pop are still vivid, everlasting really.

By the way. The dead man never did fall out of the window.

We all laughed until we cried.